diff --git a/pywb/utils/timeutils.py b/pywb/utils/timeutils.py
index 62929d50..7af3401f 100644
--- a/pywb/utils/timeutils.py
+++ b/pywb/utils/timeutils.py
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ DATE_TIMESPLIT = re.compile(r'[^\d]')
 
 TIMESTAMP_14 = '%Y%m%d%H%M%S'
 
-PAD_STAMP_END = '29991231235959'
+#PAD_STAMP_END = '29991231235959'
+PAD_6 = '299912'
 
 
 def iso_date_to_datetime(string):
@@ -58,41 +59,145 @@ def iso_date_to_timestamp(string):
     return datetime_to_timestamp(iso_date_to_datetime(string))
 
 
-# default pad is end of range for compatibility
-def pad_timestamp(string, pad_str=PAD_STAMP_END):
+# pad to certain length (default 6)
+def _pad_timestamp(string, pad_str=PAD_6):
     """
-    >>> pad_timestamp('20')
-    '20991231235959'
+    >>> _pad_timestamp('20')
+    '209912'
 
-    >>> pad_timestamp('2014')
-    '20141231235959'
+    >>> _pad_timestamp('2014')
+    '201412'
 
-    >>> pad_timestamp('20141011')
-    '20141011235959'
+    >>> _pad_timestamp('20141011')
+    '20141011'
 
-    >>> pad_timestamp('201410110010')
-    '20141011001059'
+    >>> _pad_timestamp('201410110010')
+    '201410110010'
      """
 
     str_len = len(string)
     pad_len = len(pad_str)
 
-    return string if str_len >= pad_len else string + pad_str[str_len:]
+    if str_len < pad_len:
+        string = string + pad_str[str_len:]
+
+    return string
 
 
 def timestamp_to_datetime(string):
     """
-    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20131226095010')
-    time.struct_time(tm_year=2013, tm_mon=12, tm_mday=26, \
-tm_hour=9, tm_min=50, tm_sec=10, tm_wday=3, tm_yday=360, tm_isdst=-1)
+    # >14-digit -- rest ignored
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('2014122609501011')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 9, 50, 10)
 
+    # 14-digit
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20141226095010')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 9, 50, 10)
+
+    # 13-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('2014122609501')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 9, 50, 59)
+
+    # 12-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('201412260950')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 9, 50, 59)
+
+    # 11-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20141226095')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 9, 59, 59)
+
+    # 10-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('2014122609')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 9, 59, 59)
+
+    # 9-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('201412260')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 8-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20141226')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 26, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 7-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('2014122')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 6-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('201410')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 10, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 5-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20141')
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 4-digit padding
     >>> timestamp_to_datetime('2014')
-    time.struct_time(tm_year=2014, tm_mon=12, tm_mday=31, \
-tm_hour=23, tm_min=59, tm_sec=59, tm_wday=2, tm_yday=365, tm_isdst=-1)
+    datetime.datetime(2014, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 3-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('201')
+    datetime.datetime(2019, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 2-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20')
+    datetime.datetime(2099, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 1-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('2')
+    datetime.datetime(2999, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 1-digit out-of-range padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('3')
+    datetime.datetime(2999, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # 0-digit padding
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('')
+    datetime.datetime(2999, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
+
+    # bad month
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('20131709005601')
+    datetime.datetime(2013, 12, 9, 0, 56, 1)
+
+    # all out of range except minutes
+    >>> timestamp_to_datetime('40001965252477')
+    datetime.datetime(2999, 12, 31, 23, 24, 59)
+
     """
 
-    # Default pad to end of range for comptability
-    return time.strptime(pad_timestamp(string), TIMESTAMP_14)
+    # pad to 6 digits
+    string = _pad_timestamp(string, PAD_6)
+
+
+    def clamp(val, min_, max_):
+        try:
+            val = int(val)
+            val = max(min_, min(val, max_))
+            return val
+        except:
+            return max_
+
+    def extract(string, start, end, min_, max_):
+        if len(string) >= end:
+            return clamp(string[start:end], min_, max_)
+        else:
+            return max_
+
+    # now parse, clamp to boundary
+    year = extract(string, 0, 4, 1900, 2999)
+    month = extract(string, 4, 6, 1, 12)
+    day = extract(string, 6, 8, 1, calendar.monthrange(year, month)[1])
+    hour = extract(string, 8, 10, 0, 23)
+    minute = extract(string, 10, 12, 0, 59)
+    second = extract(string, 12, 14, 0, 59)
+
+    return datetime.datetime(year=year,
+                             month=month,
+                             day=day,
+                             hour=hour,
+                             minute=minute,
+                             second=second)
+
+    #return time.strptime(pad_timestamp(string), TIMESTAMP_14)
 
 
 def timestamp_to_sec(string):
@@ -104,7 +209,7 @@ def timestamp_to_sec(string):
     1420070399
     """
 
-    return calendar.timegm(timestamp_to_datetime(string))
+    return calendar.timegm(timestamp_to_datetime(string).utctimetuple())
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/pywb/views.py b/pywb/views.py
index f693d1e6..67f928d6 100644
--- a/pywb/views.py
+++ b/pywb/views.py
@@ -56,9 +56,9 @@ class J2TemplateView:
 
     # Filters
     @staticmethod
-    def format_ts(value, format='%a, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S'):
+    def format_ts(value, format_='%a, %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S'):
         value = timeutils.timestamp_to_datetime(value)
-        return time.strftime(format, value)
+        return value.strftime(format_)
 
     @staticmethod
     def get_host(url):