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I am trying to set cookies in a javascript file, and I need to set the "max-age" of cookies for 2 years. Probably the cookie updated to 1 year and a few days only.

Does someone know if there is any limit on the expired date?

My test in dev-tools that doesn't work: document.cookie='test=res;path=/;max-age=31619000';

Ariel Zissu
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  • Accoring to this comment it does not have a limit: https://stackoverflow.com/a/3290474/7081176. However some browsers might enforce a limit while others don't. – Joost00719 Aug 08 '22 at 13:51
  • I think chrome family of browsers recently made a change in this – Jaromanda X Aug 08 '22 at 13:55

2 Answers2

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400 days (or less depending on the browser).

HTTP Working Group Specification states the following:

The user agent MUST limit the maximum value of the Expires attribute. The limit SHOULD NOT be greater than 400 days (34560000 seconds) in the future. The RECOMMENDED limit is 400 days in the future, but the user agent MAY adjust the limit (see Section 7.2). Expires attributes that are greater than the limit MUST be reduced to the limit.

Explanation from chrome status

When cookies are set with an explicit Expires/Max-Age attribute the value will now be capped to no more than 400 days in the future. Previously, there was no limit and cookies could expire as much as multiple millennia in the future.

400 days was chosen as a round number close to 13 months in duration. 13 months was chosen to ensure that sites one visits roughly once a year (e.g., picking health insurance benefits) will continue to work.

mousetail
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Quentin
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As the OP mentioned that he tried to set cookie max age to 2 years but the cookie updated to 1 year and a few days only.

You can easily test it using StorageAce chrome extension.

Go to its settings and set Max Cookie Age to 2 years as shown below.

enter image description here

Then add a new cookie using the Add button in the extension.

enter image description here

As you can see that the expiration date has been set to 2 years from the creation date which is Mon May 19 2025 18:25:58 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)

Once you save and re-open it again, then you will see that though the expiration date was 2 years at the time of saving, but it was automatically reduced to around 400 days by the browser when actually saved.

Mogli
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