In what scenarios would storing timestamps as Unix timestamps in a database be more beneficial than using datetime format?

Storing timestamps as Unix timestamps in a database can be more beneficial in scenarios where you need to perform date/time calculations or comparisons frequently. Unix timestamps are stored as integers, making them more efficient for sorting and querying. Additionally, Unix timestamps are timezone-independent, which can simplify handling date and time data across different timezones.

// Storing a timestamp as a Unix timestamp in a database
$timestamp = time();

// Retrieving and converting a Unix timestamp to a datetime format
$unixTimestamp = 1609459200; // January 1, 2021 00:00:00 UTC
$datetime = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $unixTimestamp);
echo $datetime; // Output: 2021-01-01 00:00:00