MySQL timestamp timezone handling

Does the timestamp data type represent an instant-in-time or a year-month-date-hour-minute-second value? An instant in time is a moment, like the moment you started reading this, and it can be described with many different y-m-d-h-m-s+timezone values. Without timezone, it's ambiguous, the same moment can be 17:25 for me and 13:25 for someone else.

Here's what I think I get. The current_timestamp function returns the current time in the current timezone, so this is an unambiguous instant, the real now. Inside a table, it is stored as UTC, so with this assumed timezone, it should also be unambiguous.

Now here's what I don't get: it's the existence of the utc_timestamp function. I stored a current_timestamp and an utc_timestamp inside the same column, and they were different. This function shouldn't even exist, I don't understand why it represents a different instant in time.

TIMESTAMP stores the number of seconds from 1970-01-01 00:00:01 to now. It automatically converts to the date and time format when you retrieve the data.

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(): Returns the current date time with your timezone configured.
UTC_TIMESTAMP(): Returns the current date and time using UTC timezone.

If you're using a timezone that's not UTC, these functions always return different values, equal otherwise.

MySQL always stores the date and time in UTC so it can be easily converted to different timezones. NOW() or CURRENT_TIMESTAMP() return the date/time plus your timezone configured.

UTC_TIMESTAMP() just returns the date/time ignoring your timezone setting.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#62466, answer score: 10