diff --git a/src/time.c b/src/time.c
index 882c9d98..42607448 100644
--- a/src/time.c
+++ b/src/time.c
@@ -63,13 +63,7 @@ rcutils_time_point_value_as_date_string(
   // break into two parts to avoid floating point error
   uint64_t seconds = abs_time_point / (1000u * 1000u * 1000u);
   uint64_t nanoseconds = abs_time_point % (1000u * 1000u * 1000u);
-  // Make sure the buffer is large enough to hold the largest possible uint64_t
-  char nanoseconds_str[21];
-
-  if (rcutils_snprintf(nanoseconds_str, sizeof(nanoseconds_str), "%" PRIu64, nanoseconds) < 0) {
-    RCUTILS_SET_ERROR_MSG("failed to format time point nanoseconds into string");
-    return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
-  }
+  uint64_t milliseconds = nanoseconds / (1000u * 1000u);
 
   time_t now_t = (time_t)(seconds);
   struct tm ptm = {.tm_year = 0, .tm_mday = 0};
@@ -91,8 +85,8 @@ rcutils_time_point_value_as_date_string(
   }
   static const int date_end_position = 19;
   if (rcutils_snprintf(
-      &str[date_end_position], str_size - date_end_position, ".%.3s",
-      nanoseconds_str) < 0)
+      &str[date_end_position], str_size - date_end_position, ".%03" PRIu64,
+      milliseconds) < 0)
   {
     RCUTILS_SET_ERROR_MSG("failed to format time point into string as date_time_with_ms");
     return RCUTILS_RET_ERROR;
diff --git a/test/test_time.cpp b/test/test_time.cpp
index ae6e4d4e..2ce16543 100644
--- a/test/test_time.cpp
+++ b/test/test_time.cpp
@@ -357,6 +357,12 @@ TEST_F(TestTimeFixture, test_rcutils_time_point_value_as_date_string) {
   ss2 >> std::get_time(&t, "%Y-%b-%d %H:%M:%S");
   ASSERT_TRUE(ss2.fail());
 
+  // Subsecond values should be formatted as milliseconds, including leading zeros.
+  timepoint = RCUTILS_S_TO_NS(1) + RCUTILS_MS_TO_NS(85) + RCUTILS_US_TO_NS(860);
+  ret = rcutils_time_point_value_as_date_string(&timepoint, buffer, sizeof(buffer));
+  EXPECT_EQ(RCUTILS_RET_OK, ret) << rcutils_get_error_string().str;
+  EXPECT_STREQ(".085", buffer + 19);
+
   // nullptr for timepoint
   ret = rcutils_time_point_value_as_date_string(nullptr, buffer, sizeof(buffer));
   EXPECT_EQ(RCUTILS_RET_INVALID_ARGUMENT, ret);