Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025
Epoch time, also known as Unix time or POSIX time, is a way of representing time as the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Thursday, 1 January 1970. Converting epoch time to a human-readable date and time is a common task in programming, especially in Python. In this article, we will explore some simple and generally used methods to achieve this conversion.
How To Convert Epoch Time To Date Time In Python?Below, are the methods of How To Convert Epoch Time To Date Time In Python
time
Moduledatetime
Modulearrow
Libraryandas
Librarytime
Module
In this example, This code uses the `time` module to convert the given epoch time (1613474400) to a formatted string representing the UTC date and time in the format 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss'.
Python3
import time
epoch_time = 1613474400 # Replace with your epoch time
formatted_time = time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', time.gmtime(epoch_time))
print(formatted_time)
2021-02-16 11:20:00Convert Epoch Time To Date Time Using
datetime
Module
In this example, This code utilizes the `datetime` module to convert the given epoch time (1613474400) to a UTC `datetime` object, and then formats it into a string representation ('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss').
Python3
from datetime import datetime
epoch_time = 1613474400 # Replace with your epoch time
dt_object = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(epoch_time)
formatted_time = dt_object.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
print(formatted_time)
2021-02-16 11:20:00Convert Epoch Time To Date Time Using A
rrow
Library
In this example, This code uses the `arrow` library to convert the given epoch time (1613474400) to a formatted string representing the date and time in the 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss' format.
Python3
import arrow
epoch_time = 1613474400 # Replace with your epoch time
formatted_time = arrow.get(epoch_time).format('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss')
print(formatted_time)
Output
2021-02-16 11:20:00Convert Epoch Time To Date Time Using P
andas
Library
In this example, This code uses the `pandas` library to convert the given epoch time (1613474400) to a formatted string representing the date and time in the 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss' format. The result is stored in a DataFrame column.
Python3
import pandas as pd
epoch_time = 1613474400 # Replace with your epoch time
df = pd.DataFrame({'epoch_time': [epoch_time]})
df['formatted_time'] = pd.to_datetime(df['epoch_time'], unit='s').dt.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
formatted_time = df['formatted_time'].iloc[0]
print(formatted_time)
Output
2021-02-16 11:20:00Conclusion
In conclusion, converting epoch time to a human-readable date and time in Python can be achieved through various straightforward methods. The use of standard libraries such as time
and datetime
provides simple and effective solutions, allowing for easy conversion and formatting. Additionally, external libraries like arrow
and pandas
offer alternative approaches, offering flexibility and additional functionalities. Whether using the simplicity of built-in modules or the enhanced features of external librarie.
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