diff --git a/fdroidserver/update.py b/fdroidserver/update.py
index 76ffd9c5..89b0f430 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/update.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/update.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ import json
 import time
 import yaml
 import copy
-from datetime import datetime
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
 from base64 import urlsafe_b64encode
 try:
@@ -1335,7 +1335,7 @@ def scan_repo_files(apkcache, repodir, knownapks, use_date_from_file=False):
 
         if use_date_from_file:
             timestamp = stat.st_ctime
-            default_date_param = time.gmtime(time.mktime(datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp).timetuple()))
+            default_date_param = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp, tz=timezone.utc)
         else:
             default_date_param = None