Date Format Converter

Overview

Date Format Converter: One Value, Every Format

Dates arrive in whatever shape the system that wrote them preferred. A log line gives you 1756480200, an API gives you 2026-08-29T14:30:00Z, an export gives you 29/08/2026 14:30, and the report you have to file wants Saturday, August 29th 2026. This date format converter takes any of those, tells you which one it recognised, and hands the same instant back in the format you actually need.

Paste a value on the left and the tool parses it immediately. The line under the input names what it found — an ISO 8601 string, an RFC 2822 string, Unix seconds, milliseconds or microseconds, or ordinary date text — so a wrong result is never a silent one. On the right, the same instant appears as ISO 8601, epoch seconds and milliseconds, readable local and UTC text, RFC 2822, the weekday, and the day of the year.

The pattern field is the part most converters leave out. Build an output format from thirteen one-click tokens, or start from a preset and edit it: SQL timestamps, US and European ordering, long English dates, and filename-safe stamps are all one selection away. If you want a fixed pattern with your own separators rather than a paste-and-read workflow, the Custom Date Formatter is the sibling tool; to check whether a value is a legal date at all, use the Date Validator.

Full date format converter workspace: input textarea with the detected-format line reading Read as an ISO 8601 date string, the pattern field, thirteen token pills, the preset dropdown, the UTC switch, and the eight output rows — The whole tool on one screen: the input and the pattern builder on the left, every standard format on the right.

Use Cases

What a Date Format Converter Is Actually For

Task	What to do	What you read
Make sense of a log timestamp	Paste the bare number	The unit it was read as, plus local and UTC text
Feed a database column	Preset: SQL / log timestamp	YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss
Write a date into prose	Preset: Long English	Saturday, August 29th 2026
Name an exported file	Preset: Filename safe	20260829-143005, no spaces or colons
Move a US date to European order	Paste it, pick the European preset	29/08/2026 14:30
Send an instant to a colleague abroad	Turn the UTC switch on	The same moment with a +00:00 offset

Date format converter with a Unix timestamp pasted in, the detected-format line reading Read as Unix seconds, the long English pattern dddd, MMMM Do YYYY selected, and the formatted result showing a full weekday and ordinal day — A raw Unix timestamp, recognised by digit count and re-emitted through a long English pattern.

Guide

How to Convert a Date Format

Three steps from a value you cannot read to the one you need.

Step 1: Paste the value and read what it was recognised as

Drop the date into the input box. The small line beneath it reports what the parser made of it — ISO 8601, RFC 2822, Unix seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, or general date text. Check that line before you trust the output: a ten-digit number read as seconds and a thirteen-digit number read as milliseconds are both correct, but only one of them is your value. Leaving the box empty uses the current date and time, and "Use now" fills it with the current instant as an ISO string.

Step 2: Build the output pattern

Pick a preset if one already matches, then edit it freely — the preset only writes into the pattern field, it does not lock it. Clicking a token pill inserts that token at the cursor, so you can type your own separators between them. Put any literal text in square brackets: YYYY-MM-DD[T]HH:mm:ss keeps the T of an ISO string instead of formatting it. The result updates on every keystroke.

Step 3: Choose the zone, then copy

The UTC switch decides which wall-clock reading your pattern is built from. Leave it off for a date someone will read in your own time zone; turn it on for anything that crosses zones or goes into a shared system. Then copy: the button on the result bar takes the formatted value, "Copy ISO 8601" takes the machine-readable one, and "Copy all" takes every row as a labelled list you can paste into a ticket. If you need the reverse trip — a date and time turned into an epoch number — use the Date to Timestamp tool.

Support

Frequently Asked Questions

What date formats can I paste into the converter?

ISO 8601 strings such as 2026-08-29T14:30:00Z, RFC 2822 strings such as Sat, 29 Aug 2026 14:30:00 GMT, Unix timestamps in seconds, milliseconds or microseconds, and ordinary date text such as 29 August 2026 or August 29, 2026 2:30 PM. The line under the input names the format that was recognised, so you always know how your value was read.

How does it know whether a number is seconds or milliseconds?

By digit count. Up to 11 digits is read as Unix seconds, 12 to 14 digits as milliseconds, and anything longer as microseconds. Underscores, commas and spaces inside the number are ignored, so a value copied out of a log with separators still parses.

Which tokens can I use in a custom pattern?

YYYY and YY for the year, MMMM MMM MM and M for the month, DD D and Do for the day, DDD for the day of the year, dddd ddd and dd for the weekday, HH and H for 24-hour time, hh and h for 12-hour time, mm ss and SSS for minutes, seconds and milliseconds, A and a for AM or PM, Z and ZZ for the UTC offset, and X or x for the epoch value in seconds or milliseconds.

How do I put ordinary letters into a pattern?

Wrap them in square brackets. A pattern of YYYY-MM-DD[T]HH:mm:ss[Z] emits the literal T and Z of an ISO string instead of treating them as tokens, and [week] DDD prints the word week followed by the day number. Anything inside brackets is copied through untouched.

What is the difference between the local and UTC output?

A date is a single instant, but it reads as a different wall-clock time depending on the zone. With the switch off, your custom pattern uses your own time zone and the Z token prints your offset. With it on, the pattern is built from UTC values and the offset reads +00:00. The ISO 8601 and Unix rows on the right are always UTC-based, because both formats are defined that way.

Is the date I paste sent anywhere?

No. Parsing and formatting are plain JavaScript running in your own browser tab. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored, which is why the tool also works with the network disconnected and why it is safe to paste timestamps out of internal logs.

Does the date format converter work on a phone?

Yes. On a narrow screen the two panels stack into one column: the formatted result stays at the top, then the input, the pattern field and the token pills, and the list of standard formats follows below. The token pills wrap onto as many rows as they need and every control meets a 44px touch target.

Date format converter on a 390px phone: the formatted result bar at the top, then the input, pattern field, and token pills stacked in a single column above the output rows — The date format converter on a phone — one column, with the formatted result kept at the top.

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