Timestamp Precision: Seconds, Milliseconds, Microseconds
Choose the right timestamp precision for your API. Compare second, millisecond, microsecond, and nanosecond granularity with real-world examples.
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Tags: developer-tools, timestamps, precision
Timestamp Precision Guide: Seconds, Milliseconds, Microseconds in APIs When you integrate with an API and get back a timestamp, is it in seconds or milliseconds? The difference between and is twelve zeros away from a correct date — or year 57,000 if you misinterpret. Precision also matters for ordering events, calculating durations, and debugging distributed systems where sub-millisecond granularity can be the difference between correct and corrupted state. This guide covers precision levels, what each system uses, how to detect the unit from the value, and how to design timestamp fields in your own APIs. --- Precision Levels | Unit | Abbreviation | Example | Digits (current epoch) | |---|---|---|---| | Seconds | s | | 10 | | Milliseconds | ms | | 13 | | Microseconds | µs | | 16 | |…
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