Mondo Knows Facts
Unix time counts the seconds elapsed since 1 January 1970
Computers use the Unix epoch as a standardized reference point for tracking system time
Unix time measures temporal duration by counting the number of non-leap seconds passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. This simple integer system allows operating systems and network protocols to coordinate timestamps efficiently. Thirty-two-bit systems face the Year 2038 problem when their second counter overflows.
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Tags: unix, time, operating-systems
Unix time counts the seconds elapsed since 1 January 1970: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Computers use the Unix epoch as a standardized reference point for tracking system time. The figure is taken from IETF RFC 3339, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a technology fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.