---
id: rfc3339
version: "6.2"
license: ISCL
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: abandoned
---

# rfc3339 — Format dates according to the RFC 3339.

License: unclear · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 1.3M/mo

## What it is and what it does

rfc3339 is a lightweight library for formatting and parsing dates according to RFC 3339, the standardized Internet date/time format. It handles conversion between Python datetime objects and RFC 3339-compliant string representations, useful for APIs, HTTP headers, and systems requiring standards-compliant timestamp serialization.

The package has no external runtime dependencies, making it simple to integrate. However, it has been abandoned since its last release on 2019-09-24 and receives no active maintenance. While marked as Production/Stable in its classifiers, the lack of ongoing development means bugs or compatibility issues will not be addressed by the maintainer.

Use it for:

- Serialize Python datetime objects to RFC 3339 strings for REST API responses
- Parse RFC 3339 timestamps from HTTP headers or JSON payloads into Python datetime objects
- Generate standards-compliant timestamps for logging or audit trails in networked systems
- Convert between internal datetime representations and RFC 3339 format for data interchange

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Formats and parses dates according to RFC 3339, the Internet date/time standard.

Yes, if you need RFC 3339 formatting and can accept an unmaintained package. The library is simple, dependency-free, and has no known vulnerabilities. However, verify that its implementation meets your requirements and consider the risk of abandonment if you need long-term support or encounter bugs.

## Install

pip install rfc3339
uv add rfc3339
poetry add rfc3339

## Installing rfc3339

Before you install: Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies. However, the package has been abandoned since 2019-09-24 and receives no maintenance, which may pose a risk if bugs are discovered.

License in practice: License is marked ISCL with unclear treatment, which may require verification before use in proprietary or copyleft projects.

Quickstart:

pip install rfc3339

import rfc3339
from datetime import datetime

dt = datetime.now()
rfc_string = rfc3339.format(dt)

Verify before relying:

- What obligations ISCL license carries and whether it is equivalent to ISC
- Whether RFC 3339 implementation is complete and spec-compliant
- Python 3 compatibility given classifiers list Python 2.6 and 2.7 but package is abandoned

## Package facts

- License: ISCL (unclear)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 1.3M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

RFC 3339 date formatting, internet date time standard, timestamp RFC compliance, date format RFC 3339, RFC 3339 parser, date-time, rfc-compliance

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/rfc3339) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/rfc3339/)