diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ProgressReporter.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ProgressReporter.scala
index d95f55267e142ebbfa976534ff36a33728d4ccbe..12d0c1e9b49f0ee6d46433f6a1060cc17e07c55b 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ProgressReporter.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ProgressReporter.scala
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.sql.execution.streaming
 
-import java.util.UUID
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat
+import java.util.{Date, TimeZone, UUID}
 
 import scala.collection.mutable
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
@@ -78,6 +79,9 @@ trait ProgressReporter extends Logging {
   // The timestamp we report an event that has no input data
   private var lastNoDataProgressEventTime = Long.MinValue
 
+  private val timestampFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'") // ISO8601
+  timestampFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"))
+
   @volatile
   protected var currentStatus: StreamingQueryStatus = {
     new StreamingQueryStatus(
@@ -156,7 +160,7 @@ trait ProgressReporter extends Logging {
       id = id,
       runId = runId,
       name = name,
-      timestamp = currentTriggerStartTimestamp,
+      timestamp = timestampFormat.format(new Date(currentTriggerStartTimestamp)),
       batchId = currentBatchId,
       durationMs = currentDurationsMs.toMap.mapValues(long2Long).asJava,
       currentWatermark = offsetSeqMetadata.batchWatermarkMs,
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/progress.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/progress.scala
index f768080f5d2c665a98374c7365104b20c5488150..d1568758b7a430c978ff609388699f00ea7cc5c4 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/progress.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/progress.scala
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import org.json4s.JsonDSL._
 import org.json4s.jackson.JsonMethods._
 
 import org.apache.spark.annotation.Experimental
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.util.DateTimeUtils
 
 /**
  * :: Experimental ::
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ class StreamingQueryProgress private[sql](
   val id: UUID,
   val runId: UUID,
   val name: String,
-  val timestamp: Long,
+  val timestamp: String,
   val batchId: Long,
   val durationMs: ju.Map[String, java.lang.Long],
   val currentWatermark: Long,
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ class StreamingQueryProgress private[sql](
     ("id" -> JString(id.toString)) ~
     ("runId" -> JString(runId.toString)) ~
     ("name" -> JString(name)) ~
-    ("timestamp" -> JInt(timestamp)) ~
+    ("timestamp" -> JString(timestamp)) ~
     ("numInputRows" -> JInt(numInputRows)) ~
     ("inputRowsPerSecond" -> safeDoubleToJValue(inputRowsPerSecond)) ~
     ("processedRowsPerSecond" -> safeDoubleToJValue(processedRowsPerSecond)) ~
@@ -121,7 +122,6 @@ class StreamingQueryProgress private[sql](
     ("stateOperators" -> JArray(stateOperators.map(_.jsonValue).toList)) ~
     ("sources" -> JArray(sources.map(_.jsonValue).toList)) ~
     ("sink" -> sink.jsonValue)
-
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite.scala
index 96f19db1a90e08f9a51b547f64530a15c4fb40e1..193c943f83be8113325ffca9806eb28b1bfd65f5 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite.scala
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
         |  "id" : "${testProgress1.id.toString}",
         |  "runId" : "${testProgress1.runId.toString}",
         |  "name" : "myName",
-        |  "timestamp" : 1,
+        |  "timestamp" : "2016-12-05T20:54:20.827Z",
         |  "numInputRows" : 678,
         |  "inputRowsPerSecond" : 10.0,
         |  "durationMs" : {
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
          |  "id" : "${testProgress2.id.toString}",
          |  "runId" : "${testProgress2.runId.toString}",
          |  "name" : null,
-         |  "timestamp" : 1,
+         |  "timestamp" : "2016-12-05T20:54:20.827Z",
          |  "numInputRows" : 678,
          |  "durationMs" : {
          |    "total" : 0
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ object StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite {
     id = UUID.randomUUID,
     runId = UUID.randomUUID,
     name = "myName",
-    timestamp = 1L,
+    timestamp = "2016-12-05T20:54:20.827Z",
     batchId = 2L,
     durationMs = Map("total" -> 0L).mapValues(long2Long).asJava,
     currentWatermark = 3L,
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ object StreamingQueryStatusAndProgressSuite {
     id = UUID.randomUUID,
     runId = UUID.randomUUID,
     name = null, // should not be present in the json
-    timestamp = 1L,
+    timestamp = "2016-12-05T20:54:20.827Z",
     batchId = 2L,
     durationMs = Map("total" -> 0L).mapValues(long2Long).asJava,
     currentWatermark = 3L,
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQuerySuite.scala
index 893cb762c65801f5183fb66a3d3ad51f4d5f8bec..55dd1a5d51e37903014e6f6be26d7c119db98cfa 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/StreamingQuerySuite.scala
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ class StreamingQuerySuite extends StreamTest with BeforeAndAfter with Logging {
         assert(progress.id === query.id)
         assert(progress.name === query.name)
         assert(progress.batchId === 0)
-        assert(progress.timestamp === 100)
+        assert(progress.timestamp === "1970-01-01T00:00:00.100Z") // 100 ms in UTC
         assert(progress.numInputRows === 2)
         assert(progress.processedRowsPerSecond === 2.0)