Web/API/File/lastModified

The File.lastModified read-only property provides the last modified date of the file as the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch (January 1, 1970 at midnight). Files without a known last modified date return the current date.

Syntax

const time = instanceOfFile.lastModified;

Value

A number that represents the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch.

Example

Reading from file input

<input type="file" multiple id="fileInput">

const fileInput = document.querySelector('#fileInput');
fileInput.addEventListener('change', (event) => {
  // files is a FileList object (similar to NodeList) 
  const files = event.target.files;

  for (let file of files) {
    const date = new Date(file.lastModified);
    console.log(`${file.name} has a last modified date of ${date}`);
  }
});

Try the results out below:

Dynamically created files

If a File is created dynamically, the last modified time can be supplied in the new File() constructor function. If it is missing, lastModified inherits the current time from Date.now() at the moment the File object gets created.

const fileWithDate = new File([], 'file.bin', {
  lastModified: new Date(2017, 1, 1),
});
console.log(fileWithDate.lastModified); //returns 1485903600000

const fileWithoutDate = new File([], 'file.bin');
console.log(fileWithoutDate.lastModified); //returns current time

Reduced time precision

To offer protection against timing attacks and fingerprinting, the precision of someFile.lastModified might get rounded depending on browser settings. In Firefox, the privacy.reduceTimerPrecision preference is enabled by default and defaults to 20us in Firefox 59; in 60 it will be 2ms.

// reduced time precision (2ms) in Firefox 60
someFile.lastModified;
// 1519211809934
// 1519211810362
// 1519211811670
// ...


// reduced time precision with `privacy.resistFingerprinting` enabled
someFile.lastModified;
// 1519129853500
// 1519129858900
// 1519129864400
// ...

In Firefox, you can also enabled privacy.resistFingerprinting, the precision will be 100ms or the value of privacy.resistFingerprinting.reduceTimerPrecision.microseconds, whichever is larger.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
File APIThe definition of 'lastModified' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`lastModified`	Chrome Full support 13	Edge Full support 18	Firefox Full support 15	IE No support No	Opera Full support 16	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support