diff --git a/libmat2/archive.py b/libmat2/archive.py
index d295afe60cad6eb6da619e556ea58eb386104834..7aa5cb90b13c7b955968ad4c60f1b1e4358ef316 100644
--- a/libmat2/archive.py
+++ b/libmat2/archive.py
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ class TarParser(ArchiveBasedAbstractParser):
         assert isinstance(member, tarfile.TarInfo)  # please mypy
         metadata = {}
         if member.mtime != 0:
-            metadata['mtime'] = str(member.mtime)
+            metadata['mtime'] = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(member.mtime)
         if member.uid != 0:
             metadata['uid'] = str(member.uid)
         if member.gid != 0: