Unix Timestamps Explained: Why Computers Count From January 1, 1970

If you've ever called Date.now() in JavaScript, queried a database, or inspected an API response, you've seen a Unix timestamp. Something like 1745488800 . A large, seemingly arbitrary number that somehow represents a specific moment in time. Here's what it actually means — and why 1970 is the magic year. What Is a Unix Timestamp? A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds (or milliseconds, in some systems) that have elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 1970 . That specific moment is called t