Julian date converter: today's Julian date and YYDDD codes
A Julian date code is the year followed by the day of the year, from 001 on 1 January to 365 or 366 on 31 December. Enter a date to get its code, or a code to get the date.
Convert a list of Julian dates
Paste codes from a spreadsheet, a label or a log, one per line or separated by commas. Each line is read as above.
| Code | Read as | Date |
|---|
How a Julian date code is built
A Julian date code joins two numbers: the year and the day of the year. The day number counts from 001 on 1 January, so 1 February is 032 and 31 December is 365, or 366 in a leap year. The year part can be four digits (YYYYDDD), two digits (YYDDD) or one digit (YDDD).
| Form | Example for 23 October 2026 | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| YYDDD | 26296 | Lot and batch codes, logistics, mainframe files |
| YYYYDDD | 2026296 | Databases and COBOL programs that need a full year |
| YDDD | 6296 | US military document numbers, short lot codes |
| DDD | 296 | Egg cartons and production dates where the year is obvious |
| CYYDDD | 126296 | JD Edwards and other Oracle business software |
ISO 8601 calls the same thing an ordinal date and writes it 2026-296. “Julian date” is the everyday name, borrowed loosely from astronomy, where a Julian Day is something else: a count of days since 4713 BC. The Julian Day converter handles that meaning.
How the converter reads a code
The number of digits decides how a code is read. Seven digits are YYYYDDD and six are JD Edwards CYYDDD. Five digits are YYDDD and four are YDDD, while three are a day number in the current year. Dashes, spaces and dots are ignored, so 2026-296 works too.
Short years are ambiguous, so the converter picks the nearest one. A two-digit year goes in the century closest to today, so 26 means 2026 and 75 means 1975. A one-digit year goes in the decade closest to today. If a code came from an older label, check that the year it shows is the one you expect.
Converting by hand
To get the day number of a date, add the days of the months before it to the day of the month. 23 October 2026 is 273 days for January to September plus 23, which is 296. The table beside the converter gives day 001 of every month, so you only add the day of the month minus one.
To go back from a code, find the last month start in the table that is not above the day number. For 296, that is 1 October (274). The difference, 22, plus one is the day of the month: 23 October.
Julian dates in Excel and Google Sheets
With a date in cell A1, this formula returns its YYDDD code:
=TEXT(A1,"yy")&TEXT(A1-DATE(YEAR(A1),1,0),"000")
With a YYDDD code in A1, this returns the date, reading 00–49 as 2000–2049 and 50–99 as 1950–1999:
=DATE(IF(VALUE(LEFT(A1,2))<50,2000,1900)+VALUE(LEFT(A1,2)),1,VALUE(RIGHT(A1,3)))
The DATE function rolls day numbers over into later months, so DATE(2026,1,296) is 23 October 2026. Format the result cell as a date. Excel’s own date numbers are a separate count, explained on the Excel date converter.
Where Julian dates are used
- Food packaging. US egg cartons graded by the USDA show the pack date as a three-digit day of the year, so 032 means 1 February. Many other products print YDDD or YYDDD lot codes.
- Military logistics. US Department of Defense requisition document numbers include a four-digit YDDD date, and many forms use YYDDD. The military date page covers the other military formats.
- Mainframes and business software. COBOL programs use YYDDD and YYYYDDD, and JD Edwards stores dates as CYYDDD.
For a printable list of every day with its code, use the 2026 Julian date calendar or the 2027 calendar.
Questions
What is today's Julian date?
The converter above shows it for your time zone: the last two digits of the year followed by the day of the year as three digits. For example, on 23 October 2026, for example, it is 26296.
How do I read a 5-digit Julian date like 26296?
The first two digits are the year (26 = 2026) and the last three are the day of the year (296). Day 296 of 2026 is Friday 23 October.
Is a Julian date the same as the Julian calendar?
No. A Julian date code counts days within a Gregorian year. The Julian calendar is the older calendar that runs 13 days behind today's; see Julian to Gregorian.
Why does 1 March have a different number in leap years?
29 February adds a day, so from 1 March onward every day number is one higher in a leap year: 1 March is 060 in 2026 and 061 in 2028.
What is a JD Edwards Julian date?
JD Edwards (Oracle) stores dates as CYYDDD: a century digit (0 for the 1900s, 1 for the 2000s), the two-digit year and the day of the year. 126296 is day 296 of 2026.