Discord timestamps: every format code, with examples

What a Discord timestamp is

The code has three parts inside angle brackets: <t:SECONDS:STYLE>. SECONDS is the Unix time, the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. STYLE is one letter that picks the format, and it is optional: leave it off and Discord uses the default, which spells out the date and time. So <t:1700000000> reads like November 14, 2023 10:13 PM to a viewer in the US.

The clever part is where the date comes from: Discord renders the code at read time, in the reader's own timezone and language. You type one code, a server member in Tokyo sees a different local time than you do, and both are correct. That is why timestamps beat typing out "10 PM EST" in any server with people in more than one timezone.

Every format code, with examples

The examples below show one fixed moment, 1700000000 seconds (Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 10:13 PM UTC), as an English (US) reader would see it. Your own messages render in your locale, so the same code can put the day before the month.

The letters are case-sensitive. Lowercase t and uppercase T are different formats, and the same goes for d/D and f/F. R has no uppercase twin; it always renders as a relative time, counted from the moment someone reads the message. The same code shows "in 3 minutes" before game night and "3 months ago" when someone digs the message back up.

Dynamic vs static: when the countdown code helps

Timestamps solve two problems that pasted dates have. Timezone math: the reader's client does it, so nobody converts anything. And staleness: a countdown written as "starts in 2 hours" turns into a lie the moment someone reads the message two days later, while a live countdown always tells the truth.

Practical pairings: use R for deadlines, countdowns and "last checked" or "released" lines in patch notes, because it stays current without edits. Use F or f for event announcements where people need to plan around a date: game nights, streams, releases. Use t or T when the clock matters more than the date: daily resets, office hours, build windows. One warning: in very old messages the relative code keeps counting, so an announcement meant to stay readable for months should carry the absolute form too. A pinned message that only says "in 3 days" ages badly.

Why your timestamp shows as raw text (and other fixes)

• Syntax. Both angle brackets, no spaces inside, exactly one style letter: <t: 1700000000 : R> and a code with a missing bracket stay raw text. Case matters too: d and D, t and T, f and F are different formats.
• Code blocks. Text inside backticks never formats. A timestamp wrapped in inline code or a code block shows as the raw code, which is also the easiest way to post the syntax itself in a channel.
• Seconds, not milliseconds. If you copied a value from JavaScript's Date.now() or a millisecond column in a spreadsheet, the rendered date lands tens of thousands of years in the future. Divide by 1000 and drop the decimals. Our guide to Unix timestamps in Excel covers the same trap in spreadsheets.
• The time is wrong (but it is not). A timestamp shows every reader their own local time: 10:13 PM in London is 11:13 PM in Berlin and 7:13 the next morning in Tokyo, and all three are the same instant. If you need one fixed zone in the text, write the date out in words and keep the timestamp as the dynamic bonus.
• Extreme values. Negative numbers and dates far outside the 2000s can render oddly or not at all. If you compute the seconds yourself, sanity-check the number against a converter before pasting.