Java date to utc. Date object to a java.

Java date to utc. To get the current date and time in UTC or GMT in Java, you can use the Instant class from the java. If you Learn how to convert java. Date to a UTC String efficiently and correctly using best practices in Java programming. Date objects do not contain any timezone information by themselves - you cannot set the timezone on a Date object. In this blog post, we will explore how to convert local time to UTC in Java, covering core concepts, typical usage scenarios, common pitfalls, and best practices. Jul 8, 2015 · I'm trying to convert a millisecond time (milliseconds since Jan 1 1970) to a time in UTC in Java. May 23, 2010 · Be aware that java. Apr 3, 2023 · In March 2014, the modern Date-Time API was released as part of the Java 8 standard library which supplanted the legacy date-time API and since then it is strongly recommended to switch to java. Date. Date’s toString() format, which isn't sortable (thanks, @JonSkeet!) with a better format? Oct 16, 2025 · Java, being a widely used programming language, provides various APIs to handle date, time, and time zone conversions. So, instead of chasing your tale trying to get Date to "represent" a value you want, either use Java 8's Time API or JodaTime to manage the Time Zone information or simply format the Date into the Time Zone Mar 26, 2025 · Learn about possible ways of converting the between old java. LocalDateTime convertToUtc(LocalDateTime date) { //do conversion } I searched over net. Calendar, and java. The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java. Mar 21, 2016 · I just needed a sample code block or suggestion to convert the following date string to utc time and find difference with current time in java? May 23, 2016 · The modern approach uses the java. Date object to a java. Date classes store the actual time (milliseconds) in UTC. 6 days ago · Explore effective strategies and code examples for retrieving accurate UTC date and time values in Java, avoiding common pitfalls with legacy date-time classes. ZonedDateTime or OffsetDateTime, using DateTimeFormatter class in UTC/GMT in Java 8. toString() or a DateFormat Oct 16, 2012 · I need some advice on this java method. parse("2012-10-29T12:57:00-0000"); is parsed treating 2012-10-29T12:57:00-0000 was a GMT value, but you are printing date which uses local timezome in printing hence you are noticing the difference. lastModified() represents the number of milliseconds since the epoch (00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970) as stated in the Javadoc. There are several common scenarios where we want the data to be printed in UTC, including logs, data export and communication with external programs. To convert a date to UTC format in Java, you can use the `SimpleDateFormat` class along with the correct `TimeZone` settings. One such aspect is converting epoch milliseconds to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in Java. To conclude, we’ll look at some external libraries for conversion using Joda-Time and the Apache Commons Lang DateUtils class. UTC () method returns the number of milliseconds between a specified date and midnight of January 1, 1970, according to UTC. Mar 26, 2025 · In this tutorial, we’ll explore several ways to convert String objects into Date objects. util Date-Time API and their formatting API, SimpleDateFormat are outdated and error-prone. Calendar` classes. Date classes and new java. time classes built into Java 8 & Java 9. See Tutorial by Oracle. Timestamp. Aug 3, 2019 · Learn to parse a given date time string to instance e. When a date is converted to a string such as via Date. time (JSR-310) - a core part of the JDK which replaces this project The corresponding methods in Date are deprecated. SSSZ"); dateFormat. To accurately capture the current date and time is fundamental for various applications, such as scheduling tasks, tracking events, etc. sql. So this time difference (from epoch to current time) will be same in all computers across the world with irrespective of Timezone. The modern solution uses java. We will use SimpleDateFormat class to format the Date in a specific format and we will set its timezone to print the date in a specific timezone. When working with databases, it's often a best practice to store dates and times in Oct 16, 2025 · In the world of programming, handling time and date is a common yet complex task, especially when dealing with different time zones. Nearly all modern operating systems assume that 1 day = 24 × 60 × 60 = 86400 seconds in all cases. Java 8 introduced a new date and time API (`java. It is recommended to stop using them completely and switch to the modern Date-Time API *. time;classes that years ago supplanted the terrible date-time classes such as and . atOffset(ZoneOffset. Jan 24, 2015 · In this tutorial, we will show you few examples (ZonedDateTime (Java 8), Date, Calendar and Joda Time) to convert a date and time between different time zones. So they are both in UTC/GMT already. Convert Java Date to UTC StringThe java. As ZZ Coder shows, you set the timezone on the DateFormat object, to tell it in which timezone you want to display the date and time. I have googled and found great solution for JavaScript but for Java nothing useful. The java. 2 now supports this feature out of the box by supporting the offset to UTC and by leveraging JDBC 4. Date in UTC? How to replace the j. UTC); If the original Date isn’t in UTC, we can provide the offset (stored in a helper object, because as mentioned earlier, the Date class can’t store timezones). If you want to print the date back in Feb 16, 2022 · Java supports three timezones for Eastern Standard Time i. Capture the current moment as seen in UTC. setTimeZone(TimeZone. You can also associate a timezone with the value using a Calendar object: TimeZone tz = TimeZone. And because the replacements for it and Date and TimeZone came out with java. This allows you to format dates in UTC regardless of your local time zone. So I wrote the code: import java. In this Java core tutorial we learn how to convert a java. I tried various options like this: Date date = new Date(); Calendar calendar = Calendar. Missing Timezone Information public class DeprecatedExamples { @Test public void testCurrentDate() { Date now = new Date(); Date before = new Date(1661832030000L); Jan 11, 2023 · Switch from the error-prone legacy date-time API to the modern date-time API. Date in UTC time zone offset. The way, JVM resolves OS timezone, is different in each operating system. Date; public class RegularSandbox { public static May 14, 2014 · FYI, the terribly troublesome old date-time classes such as java. Date` and `java. Date conversions, or setting my whole Java app in the UTC time zone (because this could lead to another unexpected issues, if the JVM is shared across many applications). In Java, I want to get the current time in GMT. However, new Java versions have come up with more useful and expressive classes such as ZoneId and ZoneOffset, for managing time-zones. Jan 8, 2024 · This article describes how we may get the current date, current time and current time stamp in Java. time The java. getTimeZone("CET")); mapper Sep 17, 2025 · Java has provided multiple classes such as Date, Time and DateTime in the past to also take care of time-zones. Let’s say Mar 10, 2011 · Quite simply: Date date = new Date(file. I want to get Date object in UTC format. Oct 16, 2025 · In modern software development, dealing with dates and times is a common yet complex task. Any hints would be great! Time format should be : 11/4/03 8:14 PM Thanks in advance! TimeZone utc Jul 1, 2011 · About java. Also, quoted below is a notice at the Home Page of Joda-Time: Note that from Java SE 8 onwards, users are asked to migrate to java. getTimeZone ("PST"). However, if I create a Date(), create a Calendar, and set the calendar time with the date, the time remains my local time (and I am not on UTC Feb 21, 2018 · Is there a way i can change epoch from time zone to other. ZonedDateTime; import java. Here is a solution using the modern API. Mar 26, 2025 · Learn about possible ways of converting the between old java. . Learn how to retrieve a Date object in UTC format in Java, along with code examples and common mistakes to avoid. time` package) that provides a more robust and user - friendly way to handle date and time operations compared to the old `java. util package when developing applications. How exactly are you supposed to do this? Learn how to convert date-time strings to UTC format in Java with practical examples. The intent of this method is to take a string that represents a date - this string was created from a date in the EST time zone - and convert it to a java D Mar 12, 2025 · Converting Date to OffsetDateTime is pretty simple. Feb 22, 2017 · I have problems with Date class in Java. This package provides comprehensive support for managing date and time, allowing you to easily obtain the current time in a specific timezone, such as UTC. Although the Date class is intended to reflect coordinated universal time (UTC), it may not do so exactly, depending on the host environment of the Java Virtual Machine. Date/Timestamp doesn't know about the given time is on which timezone. Since Timestamp doesn't store any offset information, I am going to store all dates/times in the database a Mar 26, 2025 · Learn how to use the Java 8 DateTimeFormatter class to format and parse dates and times Learn how to easily convert a String to a UTC Date in Java using the SimpleDateFormat and Instant classes. ZonedDateTime is an immutable object that holds a date-time value to a precision of nanoseconds, a time zone value based on the ISO 8601 calendar system, and a ZoneOffSet to handle ambiguous local date-times. Date object in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Includes epoch explanation and conversion syntax in various programming languages. time package introduced in Java 8. getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat. The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to java. Kinda confusing but running out of option over internet. Aug 3, 2022 · In the last example, we learned how to convert Date to String in Java. Nov 20, 2012 · The class Date/Timestamp represents a specific instant in time, with millisecond precision, since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT. i am trying to test something locally as iam in PST. time, that was introduced in Java 8 before looking at the old java. Epoch time, also known as Unix time, is the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. time framework is built into Java 8 and later. By using the correct approach and libraries, you can easily achieve this conversion. Mar 27, 2020 · I want to convert this date to UTC, and then convert it to String. If I send an object with a date to the client, then Jackson will automatically convert it to UTC. getTimeZone("GMT")); date1 = calendar. So, instead of chasing your tale trying to get Date to "represent" a value you want, either use Java 8's Time API or JodaTime to manage the Time Zone information or simply format the Date into the Time Zone In this article, we will learn how to convert a local date to a java. Feb 17, 2016 · I have an java. To learn more about Java 8’s date-time support check out our Java 8 date-time intro. Mar 26, 2025 · Before Java 8 and JPA 2. What's the best way to create a String representation of java. We will see the examples using ZonedDateTime, Date and Calendar classes. time, the modern Java date and time API, early in 2014, seven and a half years ago. util. Date object is not a real date-time object like the modern date-time types; rather, it represents the number of milliseconds since the standard base time known as "the epoch", namely January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT (or UTC). time classes built into Java 8 and later. Oct 1, 2022 · Java examples to convert a date from one timezone to another timezone. It returns the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. OffsetDateTime which I would like to convert to a java. 2, developers usually had to convert date/time types to UTC before persisting them. getInstance(TimeZone. Learn to convert date to EST in Java. The Instant class represents a single point in time in the ISO-8601 calendar system, with a resolution of nanoseconds. text. Jul 29, 2010 · The java. Date class returns local machine date but i need UTC-0. In this article, we’ll discuss ZoneId and ZoneOffset as well as related DateTime classes. time, the modern date-time API. May 11, 2017 · I encountered just the same problem when I wanted to store the dates in the DB as UTC and avoid using varchar and explicit String <-> java. UTC time is the same as GMT time (Greenwich Mean Time). Sep 8, 2024 · In this article, we found out how to set the time zone in Java using Java 7, 8 and Joda-Time API. Basically, the method is used to convert this date and time into a particular format i. How do I get a GMT equivalent date from the current date (assuming that the program can run in Japan or SFO) May 12, 2024 · ZonedDateTime is part of the Java Date and Time API introduced in Java 8. In this article, we will learn how to convert a local date to a java. Easy epoch/Unix timestamp converter for computer programmers. time. 2 support for the timezone. Aug 3, 2023 · In a Java web application, we can use the Spring Security UserDetails to store the user time zone and transpose the UTC timestamps fetched from the database or created on the web server to the local time zones of every logged user. LocalDate object to a java. I want to get the time in UTC time zone. UTC is a time standard that serves as a basis for civil time and time zones worldwide Jul 10, 2025 · The Date. If our Date is in UTC, we can convert it with a single expression: Date date = new Date (); OffsetDateTime offsetDateTime = date. UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) is the time set by the World Time Standard. Java, being a widely used programming language, provides the `Calendar` class to manage dates and times. It provides one of the easiest ways to convert a date into a Unix timestamp through the getTime () method: Sep 26, 2022 · Drawbacks of Legacy java. The standard for that is UTC, but we also see GMT in some applications. Sep 23, 2022 · Learn all the tips and tricks to get the current date and time in UTC or GMT for your multilingual Java application. Sep 25, 2016 · About java. Mar 17, 2024 · Whenever we deal with times and dates, we need a frame of reference. May 19, 2011 · The posters here say that Date is always in UTC time. This format includes the 'T' separator and the 'Z' indicating UTC time. util Date Classes Let’s look at a few reasons why you should avoid the date and time classes in the java. But did not get a solution Oct 6, 2011 · FYI, the troublesome old date-time classes such as java. time … Jan 11, 2023 · Learn how Java handles time zone information for Date, Timestamp, Calendar, or Joda DateTime when parsing the timestamps from String. JPA 2. Date date = format. 2 Dec 5, 2021 · You’re learning Java in 2021 and trying to use SimpleDateFormat?! Stop!! Immediately! The rest of us stopped using that class many years ago because it’s so terribly troublesome. My system is calculation time stamp in PST formate only . In short, UTC is the standard, while GMT is a time zone. g. Aug 3, 2014 · To convert a date to a timestamp: String date = "2014-08-03 15:20:10"; //Replace with your value Timestamp timestamp = Timestamp. SimpleDateFormat. Aug 12, 2011 · FYI, the troublesome old date-time classes such as java. Date, . Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) serves as a global standard for timekeeping, making it essential to convert local time to UTC in various applications. I tried using Calendar calstart = Calendar. Jan 19, 2017 · I need to convert date from Google App Engine local server time zone to pacific time in Java. , mm/dd/yyyy. I am able to get expected date string in UTC using SimpleDateFormat. time, the modern Java date and time API. Date data type also used for representing dates. Date, java. Feb 23, 2022 · 3. getTimeZone Oct 12, 2010 · What is the most elegant way to get ISO 8601 formatted presentation of the current moment, UTC? It should look like: 2010-10-12T08:50Z. In Java, there is a built-in class known as the Date class and we can import java. How JVM Resolves the Timezone By default, Java Date and Time classes pick the time zone information from the operating system. Date, its toString method returns the date-time in the JVM's timezone, calculated from this milliseconds value. getDate("DateColumn"); Jan 6, 2016 · Convert LocalDateTime to LocalDateTime in UTC. Dec 1, 2020 · A quick guide to convert date and time from one timezone to another timezone with example programs using ZonedDateTime in java 8 and older Java Date. How to get UTC+0 Sep 19, 2012 · I have a timestamp that's in UTC and I want to convert it to local time without using an API call like TimeZone. All examples will be converting the date and time from Jun 12, 2015 · * For any reason, if you have to stick to Java 6 or Java 7, you can use ThreeTen-Backport which backports most of the java. Answer To retrieve the current date and time in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) or GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in Java, you can utilize the java. toInstant() . Convert the current date, to a java. When you print an object of java. We’ll start with the new Date Time API, java. toString() or a DateFormat May 24, 2022 · In this Java core tutorial we learn how to convert a java. ZoneOffset; import java. But using same SimpleDateFormat object, I am not able Jan 8, 2024 · The Java LocalDateTime API represents and manipulates a combination of date and time. Date in Java 1. These classes supplant the troublesome old date-time classes such as java. Apr 18, 2023 · Convert dates to EST/EDT Timezone in Java. To format these on output to another timezone, use SimpleDateFormat. valueOf(date); // Convert timestamp to long for use long timeParameter = timestamp. Learn to handle time zone conversions and avoid common pitfalls with this step-by-step tutorial. time functionality to Java 6 & 7. Oct 16, 2012 · I need some advice on this java method. To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. u. Oct 8, 2025 · Learn how to convert ZonedDateTime to String and vice-versa in Java Aug 30, 2023 · How to get time zones right with Java When developing business applications, most of us have been faced with the challenge of dealing with dates, times and time zones at some point. e. You need a time zone to get the desired output Jun 21, 2024 · In Java, converting a date to a UTC string is a common need in many applications that deal with international timezones. time classes. And the same is true of java. Date and java. getInstance(); calstart. Java 8 introduced the new Date and Time API, which greatly simplifies date and time operations. I've seen a lot of other questions that utilize SimpleDateFormat to change the timezone, but I'm not I have written following code. SimpleDateFormat are now legacy, supplanted by the java. If we want the time based on timezone we should go for the Sep 27, 2011 · If you really want Jackson to return a date with another time zone than UTC (and I myself have several good arguments for that, especially when some clients just don't get the timezone part) then I usually do: ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper(); DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss. In Oct 16, 2025 · In the world of programming, dealing with dates and times is a common yet complex task. LocalDate object in UTC time zone offset. Jan 23, 2021 · The java. UTC() static method accepts parameters representing the date and time components similar to the Date constructor, but treats them as UTC. Learn how to effectively convert the current date to UTC and any specific time zone in Java with step-by-step examples and code snippets. Calendar, & java. Dec 19, 2011 · I'm trying to convert a long timestamp that is UTC to Eastern Standard Time and am totally lost. The classes SimpleDateFormat and Date used in the question and in a couple of the other answers are poorly designed and long outdated, the former in particular notoriously troublesome. In this tutorial, we’ll see how to convert from LocalDateTime to ZonedDateTime and vice-versa. May 24, 2022 · In this Java core tutorial we learn how to convert a java. I am in PST but i want my epoch to be in UTC as our database/server operates in UTC time. LocalDateTime object in UTC time zone offset. The only thing that a Date object contains is a number of milliseconds since the "epoch" - 1 January 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. 0 It has no concept of time zone It doesn’t represent a date, but a point in time with millisecond precision It’s intended to reflect UTC, it may not do so exactly, depending on the host environment of the Java Virtual Machine The class Date represents a specific instant in time, with millisecond precision. Jul 14, 2015 · If you have a look at local Date and utc date they are the same thing, even though the local format and utc format are formatted correctly. Feb 4, 2024 · In Java, the Date class represents a specific point in time with millisecond precision. getTimeZone("GMT")); in the formatter, which is being used in formatting the string into date i. Date toString() method displays the date in the local time zone. Jul 23, 2025 · The format () method of DateFormat class in Java is used to format a given date into a Date/Time string. Example: String d = DateFormat. "EST", "America/New_York" and "EST5EDT". There are several Description The Date. One way to get the machine time zone is from the system clock and modify the desired timezone in the clock. time package to work with date and time API. A ZonedDateTime object contains: A local date and time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second, nanosecond) A timezone (represented by ZoneId) An offset from UTC/Greenwich This makes ZonedDateTime incredibly useful for applications that require handling different time zones. Jan 5, 2024 · Explore various techniques for formatting a LocalDate to the ISO 8601 format. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java. Date in UTC using Java's date and time API. lastModified()) This works because the long value returned by File. If you are working for an Android project and your Android API level is still not compliant with Java-8, check Java 8+ APIs available through desugaring and How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project. getTime(); To convert a timestamp to a date: long timeParameter = 1186358400; //Replace with your value Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(timeParameter); Date date = new Date Jul 11, 2025 · In software development, we often work with dates and times. This is what Wikipedia tells us regarding what to use: For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), but GMT is no longer precisely defined by the scientific The java. OffsetDateTime object in UTC time zone offset. May 15, 2012 · The above code doesn't print the date in GMT, but rather prints in the local timezone. getTimeZone("<local-time-zone>"); // Date dateValue = rs. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations Feb 24, 2012 · This also gives us a different GMT time: GMT Time: 2015-11-01T06:00Z GMT Time formatted for user: Nov 1, 2015, 6:00:00 AM Avoid SimpleDateFormat and friends While the other answers are generally correct, the classes DateFormat, SimpleDateFormat, Date and Calendar used there are poorly designed and long outdated. Converting a DateTime to UTC can be easily accomplished using the `ZonedDateTime` class. Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat. Problem Statement Convert the current date, to a java. time package. Oct 29, 2012 · You are using format. Oct 6, 2018 · java. In this example, I am converting a Java Date object from one timezone to another. time API. 9txmd 4g iz0p 6j oai kvof7g rwen sq a6498a lwqxnjhn4