diff --git a/logback-contrib/json/access/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayout.java b/logback-contrib/json/access/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayout.java
index 8e73899009..2947a43831 100644
--- a/logback-contrib/json/access/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayout.java
+++ b/logback-contrib/json/access/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayout.java
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@
  *     <tr>
  *         <td nowrap="nowrap">{@code timestamp}</td>
  *         <td nowrap="nowrap">String value of <code>IAccessEvent.{@link ch.qos.logback.access.spi.IAccessEvent#getTimeStamp() getTimeStamp()}</code></td>
- *         <td>By default, the value is not formatted; it is simply {@code String.valueOf(timestamp)}.  To format
- *         the string using a SimpleDateFormat, set the {@link #setTimestampFormat(String) timestampFormat}
- *         property with the corresponding SimpleDateFormat string, for example, {@code yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}</td>
+ *         <td>By default, the value is not formatted; it is simply {@code String.valueOf(timestamp)}. To format
+ *         the string using a DateTimeFormatter, set the {@link #setTimestampFormat(String) timestampFormat}
+ *         property with the corresponding DateTimeFormatter pattern, for example, {@code yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}.
+ *         You can also specify a timezone using the {@link #setTimestampFormatTimezoneId(String) timestampFormatTimezoneId} property.</td>
  *         <td>true</td>
  *     </tr>
  *     <tr>
diff --git a/logback-contrib/json/access/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayoutTest.java b/logback-contrib/json/access/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayoutTest.java
index 3f383e3a4e..2e976469b1 100644
--- a/logback-contrib/json/access/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayoutTest.java
+++ b/logback-contrib/json/access/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/access/JsonLayoutTest.java
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasKey;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
 import static org.junit.matchers.JUnitMatchers.containsString;
 
 /**
diff --git a/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayout.java b/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayout.java
index 8e237f8c5a..cf4ba76fa5 100755
--- a/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayout.java
+++ b/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayout.java
@@ -35,8 +35,9 @@
  *         <td nowrap="nowrap">{@code timestamp}</td>
  *         <td nowrap="nowrap">String value of <code>ILoggingEvent.{@link ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent#getTimeStamp() getTimeStamp()}</code></td>
  *         <td>By default, the value is not formatted; it is simply {@code String.valueOf(timestamp)}.  To format
- *         the string using a SimpleDateFormat, set the {@link #setTimestampFormat(String) timestampFormat}
- *         property with the corresponding SimpleDateFormat string, for example, {@code yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}</td>
+ *         the string using a DateTimeFormatter, set the {@link #setTimestampFormat(String) timestampFormat}
+ *         property with the corresponding DateTimeFormatter pattern, for example, {@code yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}
+ *         You can also specify a timezone using the {@link #setTimestampFormatTimezoneId(String) timestampFormatTimezoneId} property.</td>
  *         <td>true</td>
  *     </tr>
  *     <tr>
diff --git a/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayoutTest.java b/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayoutTest.java
index 9e290324ad..1efb9a85f1 100644
--- a/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayoutTest.java
+++ b/logback-contrib/json/classic/src/test/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/classic/JsonLayoutTest.java
@@ -21,12 +21,17 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import java.util.*;
+import java.time.Instant;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasKey;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 import static org.junit.matchers.JUnitMatchers.containsString;
 
 /**
@@ -139,7 +144,7 @@ public void jsonLayout() throws Exception {
 
     private void assertTimestamp(String log) {
         int timestamp = log.indexOf(JsonLayout.TIMESTAMP_ATTR_NAME);
-        if(timestamp == -1){
+        if (timestamp == -1) {
             fail(String.format("No instance of %s found in log, there should be one.", JsonLayout.TIMESTAMP_ATTR_NAME));
         }
 
@@ -147,10 +152,9 @@ private void assertTimestamp(String log) {
         int timestampEnd = log.indexOf(",", timestampStart);
         String timestampValue = log.substring(timestampStart, timestampEnd);
         try {
-            new Date(Long.parseLong(timestampValue));
-        } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
-            fail(String.format("Value of attribute %s could not be converted to a valid Date", JsonLayout.TIMESTAMP_ATTR_NAME));
+            Instant.parse(timestampValue);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            fail(String.format("Value of attribute %s could not be converted to a valid Instant", JsonLayout.TIMESTAMP_ATTR_NAME));
         }
     }
-
 }
diff --git a/logback-contrib/json/core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/JsonLayoutBase.java b/logback-contrib/json/core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/JsonLayoutBase.java
index ac7ba50aa4..4ccfdcb6ff 100755
--- a/logback-contrib/json/core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/JsonLayoutBase.java
+++ b/logback-contrib/json/core/src/main/java/ch/qos/logback/contrib/json/JsonLayoutBase.java
@@ -4,18 +4,17 @@
  * This file is licensed under the terms of the
  * Eclipse Public License v1.0 as published by
  * the Eclipse Foundation.
- * 
+ *
  * This work is based on the work found at
  * https://github.com/qos-ch/logback-contrib
  * authored by the logback-contrib developers.
  */
 package ch.qos.logback.contrib.json;
 
-import java.text.DateFormat;
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
-import java.util.Date;
+import java.time.Instant;
+import java.time.ZoneId;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.TimeZone;
 
 import ch.qos.logback.core.CoreConstants;
 import ch.qos.logback.core.LayoutBase;
@@ -37,9 +36,24 @@ public abstract class JsonLayoutBase<E> extends LayoutBase<E> {
 
     protected JsonFormatter jsonFormatter;
 
+    private DateTimeFormatter dateTimeFormatter;
+
     public JsonLayoutBase() {
         this.includeTimestamp = true;
         this.appendLineSeparator = false;
+        updateDateTimeFormatter();
+    }
+
+    private void updateDateTimeFormatter() {
+        if (this.timestampFormat != null) {
+            if (this.timestampFormatTimezoneId != null) {
+                this.dateTimeFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(this.timestampFormat)
+                        .withZone(ZoneId.of(this.timestampFormatTimezoneId));
+            } else {
+                this.dateTimeFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(this.timestampFormat)
+                        .withZone(ZoneId.systemDefault());
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -71,15 +85,9 @@ protected String formatTimestamp(long timestamp) {
         if (this.timestampFormat == null || timestamp < 0) {
             return String.valueOf(timestamp);
         }
-        Date date = new Date(timestamp);
-        DateFormat format = createDateFormat(this.timestampFormat);
+        Instant instant = Instant.ofEpochMilli(timestamp);
 
-        if (this.timestampFormatTimezoneId != null) {
-            TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getTimeZone(this.timestampFormatTimezoneId);
-            format.setTimeZone(tz);
-        }
-
-        return format(date, format);
+        return dateTimeFormatter.format(instant);
     }
 
     public void addMap(String key, boolean field, Map<String, ?> mapValue, Map<String, Object> map) {
@@ -103,14 +111,6 @@ public void add(String fieldName, boolean field, String value, Map<String, Objec
         }
     }
 
-    protected DateFormat createDateFormat(String timestampFormat) {
-        return new SimpleDateFormat(timestampFormat);
-    }
-
-    protected String format(Date date, DateFormat format) {
-        return format.format(date);
-    }
-
     protected abstract Map toJsonMap(E e);
 
     @Override
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ public String getTimestampFormat() {
 
     public void setTimestampFormat(String timestampFormat) {
         this.timestampFormat = timestampFormat;
+        updateDateTimeFormatter();
     }
 
     public String getTimestampFormatTimezoneId() {
@@ -148,6 +149,7 @@ public String getTimestampFormatTimezoneId() {
 
     public void setTimestampFormatTimezoneId(String timestampFormatTimezoneId) {
         this.timestampFormatTimezoneId = timestampFormatTimezoneId;
+        updateDateTimeFormatter();
     }
 
     public boolean isAppendLineSeparator() {