diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc b/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc
index d3fea3f6..6d36dc1a 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils.cc
@@ -489,7 +489,7 @@ Mu::parse_date_time(const std::string& dstr, bool is_first, bool utc)
 {
 	struct tm tbuf{};
 	GDateTime *dtime{};
-	::time_t t;
+	gint64 t;
 
 	/* one-sided dates */
 	if (dstr.empty())
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ Mu::parse_date_time(const std::string& dstr, bool is_first, bool utc)
 	t = g_date_time_to_unix(dtime);
 	g_date_time_unref(dtime);
 
-	return std::max<::time_t>(t, 0);
+	return to_time_t(t);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
index cef84b4f..783351f8 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 
 #include "mu-option.hh"
 
-
 #ifndef FMT_HEADER_ONLY
 #define FMT_HEADER_ONLY
 #endif /*FMT_HEADER_ONLY*/
@@ -268,6 +267,26 @@ static inline bool mu_print_encoded(fmt::format_string<T...> frm, T&&... args) n
 			     stdout);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Convert an int64_t to a time_t, clamping it within the range.
+ *
+ * This is only doing anything when using a 32-bit time_t value. This doesn't
+ * solve the 3038 problem, but at least allows for clearly marking where we
+ * convert
+ *
+ * @param t some 64-bit value that encodes a Unix time.
+ *
+ * @return a time_t value
+ */
+constexpr ::time_t time_t_min = 0;
+constexpr ::time_t time_t_max = std::numeric_limits<::time_t>::max();
+constexpr ::time_t to_time_t(int64_t t) {
+	return std::clamp(t,
+			  static_cast<int64_t>(time_t_min),
+			  static_cast<int64_t>(time_t_max));
+}
+
+
 /**
  * Parse a date string to the corresponding time_t
  * *