How to Write a Discord Timestamp: Formats and Examples

When you write "The event is at 21:00," you never know which time zone your reader is in. For a member in Germany, that time is 20:00; for someone in Azerbaijan, it is 22:00. Discord timestamps eliminate this issue: you type a single number, and Discord displays it to each reader in their own local time. The formatting table in this article is sourced from the Message Formatting section of the Discord developer documentation as of October 9, 2026.

How to Write a Timestamp

The syntax consists of two parts:

<t:UNIX_TIME>
<t:UNIX_TIME:FORMAT>

• UNIX_TIME: The number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, at 00:00 UTC. According to the documentation, this value is in seconds, not milliseconds.
• FORMAT: A single letter. If you omit the letter, Discord defaults to the f format.

The documentation clearly states this behavior: timestamps are displayed in each user's own time zone and local format. This means the exact same message will appear with Turkish month names to someone using Turkish, and English month names to someone using English.

Format Letters and Outputs

As of October 9, 2026, the Discord documentation lists nine formats. For a long time, there were seven letters (t, T, d, D, f, F, R); the table now includes s and S alongside them. The sample outputs below are the English examples from the docs. On your screen, they will appear differently based on your language and time zone settings.

Letters are case-sensitive: t and T, or d and D, yield different results. Because s and S are newly added, they might not render as expected on older app versions; test them on your own client before using them in announcements.

Ways to Find Unix Time

You do not need any external tools to convert the current time or a specific date into seconds. You can use tools already available on your computer.

Browser Console or Node.js

Open developer tools in your browser with F12 and paste the following into the Console tab. This exact same line also works in Node.js. According to MDN, Date.now() returns milliseconds, which is why we divide by 1000 and round down.

// Current time
Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000)

// Specific date: October 17, 2026, 21:00 Turkey time (+03:00)
Math.floor(new Date("2026-10-17T21:00:00+03:00").getTime() / 1000)
// 1792260000

Python

According to the Python documentation, a datetime object without timezone information is assumed to be in the computer's local time. To avoid incorrect results, explicitly provide the timezone.

from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone

tr = timezone(timedelta(hours=3))
print(int(datetime(2026, 10, 17, 21, 0, tzinfo=tr).timestamp()))
# 1792260000

Linux Terminal

# Current time
date +%s

# Specific date (GNU date)
date -d "2026-10-17 21:00 +03:00" +%s
# 1792260000

The -d flag belongs to GNU date. The date command on macOS does not accept this flag in the same format.

Windows PowerShell

.NET's ToUnixTimeSeconds method returns the elapsed seconds since January 1, 1970 UTC:

# Current time
[DateTimeOffset]::Now.ToUnixTimeSeconds()

# Specific date
[DateTimeOffset]::new(2026, 10, 17, 21, 0, 0, [TimeSpan]::FromHours(3)).ToUnixTimeSeconds()

Providing the Correct Time Zone

Unix time represents a single moment in time and does not carry timezone data. The timezone only matters when generating the number. If you write "October 17 at 21:00" without specifying the timezone, the tool defaults to your computer's local timezone. If your computer is set to UTC, the event will appear shifted by three hours for everyone else.

This is why +03:00 was explicitly specified for Turkey time in the examples above. If you are scheduling an event based on another country's time, use that country's offset. An easy way to verify the result is to send the timestamp to yourself or an empty test channel first.

Using Timestamps in Event Announcements

Using two formats side by side in event announcements yields great results. F displays the full date and time, while R tells you how much time is left, such as "in 3 days".

# Tournament Night
**Start:** <t:1792260000:F> (<t:1792260000:R>)
**Registration closes:** <t:1792256400:t>

Times are displayed to you in your own timezone.

In this message, the registration deadline is set to one hour (3,600 seconds) before the start time. When writing multiple times related to the same event, you can generate the numbers by adding or subtracting seconds from the base start value.

If you are looking for event ideas, our server event ideas guide will come in handy. Some bots also utilize this timestamp automatically. For instance, VeyroBot's event cards write times using the <t:…> tag, ensuring every member sees the time in their own timezone. Live stream notification cards also display when the broadcast started using relative time; details can be found in the live stream notification setup guide.

If the Timestamp Appears as Plain Text

If you see the literal text <t:...> instead of a date or encounter an unexpected date in your message, it is usually due to one of the following reasons.

• The date shows thousands of years in the future: You likely entered the number in milliseconds. Today's dates are 10 digits long in seconds and 13 digits long in milliseconds. Divide the number by 1000.
• The time is off by a few hours: You did not specify the timezone when generating the number. Recalculate the date with an offset like +03:00.
• The syntax appears as plain text: Formatting does not work inside code blocks or inline code. Move your timestamp outside of backticks. Also, verify that the letter is one of the nine supported options.
• It doesn't work in embed titles: During tests by the VeyroBot team on October 9, 2026, timestamps functioned properly in embed descriptions and field values, but remained plain text in titles and field names. Move the timestamp to the description or a field value.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does everyone see the exact same time?

Everyone sees the exact same moment, but in their own local timezone. A member in Istanbul will see 21:00, while a member in Berlin will see that exact same moment in their local time. The Discord docs define this as "each user's own time zone and local format."

What happens if I don't write a letter?

If you write <t:1792260000>, Discord defaults to the f format: long date and short time.

Can I write a past date as well?

Yes. The same syntax is used for past moments. In this case, the R format displays it as past time, such as "2 years ago".

Last updated: October 9, 2026. The formatting table and behavior are sourced from the Message Formatting section of the Discord developer documentation; Unix time methods are from MDN, Python, and Microsoft documentation. The value 1792260000 in the example corresponds to October 17, 2026, at 21:00 (UTC+3).