timestamp20251

Timestamp20251 is a proposed 64-bit timestamp encoding designed for high-volume data systems that require compact, monotonic time values with fixed precision. The format aims to provide unambiguous event ordering across distributed components while easing storage and indexing tasks in logs, queues, and time-series databases.

Structure: The value is divided into two fields: a 52-bit seconds field counting full seconds since 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z, and a 12-bit subsecond field representing 1/4096 of a second. The combined field remains monotonic as wall time advances and supports a wide deployment window before the epoch overflows. The standard specifies a canonical binary wire format and optional textual representations.

Epoch and naming: The name signals its base epoch year and versioning. Timestamp20251 is intended to be interoperable with Unix time via conversion utilities, while preserving higher-resolution time for precise ordering in streaming and logging systems.

Usage and status: As of 2025, several experimental libraries and vendors have implemented preliminary support, particularly for event logs and message buses. The format is discussed in technical forums but has not achieved formal wide standardization, resulting in compatibility considerations between systems that adopt different interpretations of the trailing subsecond field.

See also: Unix timestamp, POSIX time, ISO 8601, monotonic clock.