Using MySQL’s TIMESTAMP vs storing timestamps directly

Arguments for TIMESTAMP

• It implicitly stores data in UTC time zone. No matter what your session time-zone is. Useful if you need to use different time zones.
• You can have automated timestamping columns using DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP or ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP (one column per table only until MySQL 5.6.5)
• You can use datetime function for date comparison, addition, subtraction, range lookup etc, without the need to use FROM_UNIXTIME() function – it will make it easier to write queries that can use indexes

• In PHP

  >> date('Y-m-d h:i:s',4294967295);
  '1969-12-31 11:59:59'
  

  so the range is in fact the same

  • You can still retrieve integer unix timestamp with no additional overhead using UNIX_TIMESTAMP() function: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/date-and-time-functions.html#function_unix-timestamp

When UNIX_TIMESTAMP() is used on a TIMESTAMP column, the function
returns the internal timestamp value directly, with no implicit
“string-to-Unix-timestamp” conversion