Understanding Unix Timestamps
Unix timestamps represent time as a single number — the count of seconds since midnight UTC on January 1, 1970 (the "Unix epoch"). This simple format is used across virtually every programming language, database, and API because it's timezone-independent and easy to do math with.
Common Timestamp Formats
- Unix (seconds): 1700000000 — Standard format used by most systems.
- JavaScript (milliseconds): 1700000000000 — JavaScript's Date.now() returns ms.
- ISO 8601: 2023-11-14T22:13:20Z — Human-readable international standard.
- RFC 2822: Tue, 14 Nov 2023 22:13:20 +0000 — Used in email headers and HTTP.