diff --git a/glog.go b/glog.go
index 595b8fa4c..01bd44770 100644
--- a/glog.go
+++ b/glog.go
@@ -583,24 +583,25 @@ func (l *loggingT) formatHeader(s severity, file string, line int) *buffer {
 
 	// Avoid Fprintf, for speed. The format is so simple that we can do it quickly by hand.
 	// It's worth about 3X. Fprintf is hard.
-	_, month, day := now.Date()
+	year, month, day := now.Date()
 	hour, minute, second := now.Clock()
-	// Lmmdd hh:mm:ss.uuuuuu threadid file:line]
+	// Lyyyymmdd hh:mm:ss.uuuuuu threadid file:line]
 	buf.tmp[0] = severityChar[s]
-	buf.twoDigits(1, int(month))
-	buf.twoDigits(3, day)
-	buf.tmp[5] = ' '
-	buf.twoDigits(6, hour)
-	buf.tmp[8] = ':'
-	buf.twoDigits(9, minute)
-	buf.tmp[11] = ':'
-	buf.twoDigits(12, second)
-	buf.tmp[14] = '.'
-	buf.nDigits(6, 15, now.Nanosecond()/1000, '0')
-	buf.tmp[21] = ' '
-	buf.nDigits(7, 22, pid, ' ') // TODO: should be TID
-	buf.tmp[29] = ' '
-	buf.Write(buf.tmp[:30])
+	buf.nDigits(4, 1, year, '0')
+	buf.twoDigits(5, int(month))
+	buf.twoDigits(7, day)
+	buf.tmp[9] = ' '
+	buf.twoDigits(10, hour)
+	buf.tmp[12] = ':'
+	buf.twoDigits(13, minute)
+	buf.tmp[15] = ':'
+	buf.twoDigits(16, second)
+	buf.tmp[18] = '.'
+	buf.nDigits(6, 19, now.Nanosecond()/1000, '0')
+	buf.tmp[25] = ' '
+	buf.nDigits(7, 26, pid, ' ') // TODO: should be TID
+	buf.tmp[33] = ' '
+	buf.Write(buf.tmp[:34])
 	buf.WriteString(file)
 	buf.tmp[0] = ':'
 	n := buf.someDigits(1, line)
diff --git a/glog_test.go b/glog_test.go
index 64a892ee4..44c96a6b3 100644
--- a/glog_test.go
+++ b/glog_test.go
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ func TestHeader(t *testing.T) {
 	pid = 1234
 	Info("test")
 	var line int
-	format := "I0102 15:04:05.067890    1234 glog_test.go:%d] test\n"
+	format := "I20060102 15:04:05.067890    1234 glog_test.go:%d] test\n"
 	n, err := fmt.Sscanf(contents(infoLog), format, &line)
 	if n != 1 || err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("log format error: %d elements, error %s:\n%s", n, err, contents(infoLog))