What is epoch time?

Epoch time, also known as Unix time or POSIX time, is a system for tracking time that represents the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Thursday, January 1, 1970 (not counting leap seconds). This starting point is known as the Unix epoch.

Here are some key points about epoch time:

Start Date: The epoch time starts from January 1, 1970, at UTC.

Format: It is represented as a single integer that counts the number of seconds since the epoch. For instance, the epoch time for 00:00:01 UTC on January 1, 1970, is 1.

Usage: It is widely used in Unix-like operating systems, databases, and many programming languages for date and time representation. It simplifies date and time computations and comparisons.

Time Zones: Epoch time is based on UTC, so it does not include any information about time zones. When converting epoch time to a human-readable format, time zone information can be applied as needed.

For example, an epoch time of 1609459200 corresponds to 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 2021.

Human-readable time	Seconds
1 hour	3600 seconds
1 day	86400 seconds
1 week	604800 seconds
1 month (30.44 days)	2629743 seconds
1 year (365.24 days)	31556926 seconds