How to Convert DateTime to UNIX Timestamp in Python ?

Last Updated : 29 May, 2025

Generating a UNIX timestamp from a DateTime object in Python involves converting a date and time representation into the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 (known as the Unix epoch). For example, given a DateTime representing May 29, 2025, 15:30, the UNIX timestamp is the floating-point number representing seconds passed since the epoch. Let’s explore different method to do this efficientely .

Using datetime.timestamp()

datetime.timestamp() is a method available on datetime objects in Python. It converts a datetime instance into a POSIX timestamp, which is the number of seconds (including fractions) elapsed since the Unix epoch January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC.

Python

import datetime
dt = datetime.datetime(2021, 7, 26, 21, 20)

res = dt.timestamp()
print(res)

Output

1627334400.0

Explanation:

datetime.datetime(2021, 7, 26, 21, 20) creates a datetime for July 26, 2021, 9:20 PM.
dt.timestamp() converts it to the number of seconds as a float since the Unix epoch (Jan 1, 1970, 00:00 UTC).

Using time.mktime()

time.mktime() is a function from the time module that takes a time tuple (such as one returned by datetime.timetuple()) and converts it into a Unix timestamp. However, this timestamp is based on the local timezone, not UTC.

Python

import time
import datetime

dt = datetime.datetime(2021, 7, 26, 21, 20)
res = time.mktime(dt.timetuple())
print(res)

Output

1627334400.0

Explanation:

datetime.datetime(2021, 7, 26, 21, 20) creates a datetime for July 26, 2021, 9:20 PM (local time).
dt.timetuple() converts it to a time tuple.
time.mktime() converts this local time tuple to a Unix timestamp (seconds since epoch).

Using timestamp()

You can get the current date and time using datetime.datetime.now(), then convert it to a Unix timestamp in seconds using .timestamp(). Multiplying by 1000 converts seconds into milliseconds, which is useful for higher precision timing or APIs that expect timestamps in milliseconds.

Python

import datetime

now = datetime.datetime.now()
res = int(now.timestamp() * 1000)

print(res)