Timestamp Precision: Seconds, Milliseconds, Microseconds, Nanoseconds
The same moment in time looks like a different-length number depending on the precision. Here's roughly how many digits each precision has right now, and where each one shows up:
| Unit | Digits (2026) | Example | Commonly Used By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seconds | 10 | 1690000000 | Unix/Linux, JWT claims, most REST APIs |
| Milliseconds | 13 | 1690000000000 | JavaScript Date.now(), Java currentTimeMillis() |
| Microseconds | 16 | 1690000000000000 | Python time.time_ns()/1000, MongoDB, some log formats |
| Nanoseconds | 19 | 1690000000000000000 | Go time.UnixNano(), high-resolution tracing systems |
Common Time Duration Reference
Useful when you're eyeballing a difference between two timestamps:
| Duration | In Seconds |
|---|---|
| 1 minute | 60 |
| 1 hour | 3,600 |
| 1 day | 86,400 |
| 1 week | 604,800 |
| 30 days | 2,592,000 |
| 1 year (365 days) | 31,536,000 |