diff --git a/plugins/out_file/file.c b/plugins/out_file/file.c
index 77baf6be8..04c519d5a 100644
--- a/plugins/out_file/file.c
+++ b/plugins/out_file/file.c
@@ -238,10 +238,20 @@ static int template_output_write(struct flb_file_conf *ctx,
 
     /*
      * Right now we treat "{time}" specially and fill the placeholder
-     * with the metadata timestamp (formatted as float).
+     * with the metadata timestamp.
      */
     if (!strncmp(key, "time", size)) {
-        fprintf(fp, "%f", flb_time_to_double(tm));
+        struct tm tm_local;
+        char buf[32];
+        if (localtime_r(&tm->tm.tv_sec, &tm_local) == NULL) {
+            flb_plg_error(ctx->ins, "localtime_r failed");
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (strftime(buf, sizeof(buf), "%b %d %H:%M:%S", &tm_local) == 0) {
+            flb_plg_error(ctx->ins, "strftime failed");
+            return -1;
+        }
+        fputs(buf, fp);
         return 0;
     }