diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
index 7689c5e..bb1d8fe 100644
--- a/BUILD
+++ b/BUILD
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 gerrit_plugin(
     name = "lfs",
     srcs = glob(["src/main/java/**/*.java"]),
-    resources = glob(["src/main/resources/**/*"]),
     manifest_entries = [
         "Gerrit-PluginName: lfs",
         "Gerrit-Module: com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.Module",
@@ -17,11 +16,11 @@
         "Gerrit-SshModule: com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.SshModule",
         "Gerrit-InitStep: com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.InitLfs",
     ],
+    resources = glob(["src/main/resources/**/*"]),
     deps = [
         "@jgit_http_apache//jar",
         "@jgit_lfs//jar",
         "@jgit_lfs_server//jar",
-        "@joda_time//jar",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -34,3 +33,13 @@
         "@jgit_lfs//jar",
     ],
 )
+
+java_library(
+    name = "lfs__plugin_test_deps",
+    testonly = 1,
+    visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
+    exports = PLUGIN_DEPS + PLUGIN_TEST_DEPS + [
+        ":lfs__plugin",
+        "@joda_time//jar",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthToken.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthToken.java
index 399dc21..0cadf7b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthToken.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthToken.java
@@ -18,12 +18,10 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
-import org.joda.time.DateTime;
-import org.joda.time.DateTimeZone;
-import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
-import org.joda.time.format.ISODateTimeFormat;
 
 public abstract class LfsAuthToken {
+  private static final LfsDateTime FORMAT = LfsDateTime.instance();
+
   public abstract static class Processor<T extends LfsAuthToken> {
     private static final char DELIMETER = '~';
 
@@ -65,12 +63,10 @@
     protected abstract boolean verifyTokenValues();
 
     static boolean onTime(String dateTime) {
-      String now = LfsAuthToken.ISO.print(now());
-      return now.compareTo(dateTime) <= 0;
+      return FORMAT.now().compareTo(dateTime) <= 0;
     }
   }
 
-  static final DateTimeFormatter ISO = ISODateTimeFormat.dateTime();
   public final String expiresAt;
 
   protected LfsAuthToken(int expirationSeconds) {
@@ -82,10 +78,6 @@
   }
 
   static String timeout(int expirationSeconds) {
-    return LfsAuthToken.ISO.print(now().plusSeconds(expirationSeconds));
-  }
-
-  static DateTime now() {
-    return DateTime.now().toDateTime(DateTimeZone.UTC);
+    return FORMAT.now(expirationSeconds);
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsDateTime.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsDateTime.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b47eb98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsDateTime.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs;
+
+import java.time.Instant;
+import java.time.ZoneId;
+import java.time.ZoneOffset;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
+import java.util.Locale;
+
+public class LfsDateTime {
+  private final DateTimeFormatter format;
+
+  private LfsDateTime(ZoneId zone) {
+    format =
+        DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZZZZZ")
+            .withZone(zone)
+            .withLocale(Locale.getDefault());
+  }
+
+  /* Create an instance with the system default time zone. */
+  public static LfsDateTime instance() {
+    return new LfsDateTime(ZoneOffset.systemDefault());
+  }
+
+  /* Create an instance with the specified time zone. */
+  public static LfsDateTime instance(ZoneId zone) {
+    return new LfsDateTime(zone);
+  }
+
+  public String now() {
+    return format.format(Instant.now());
+  }
+
+  public String now(int secondsToAdd) {
+    return format.format(Instant.now().plusSeconds(secondsToAdd));
+  }
+
+  public String format(Instant instant) {
+    return format.format(instant);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/locks/LfsProjectLocks.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/locks/LfsProjectLocks.java
index d0875c1..7dfa103 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/locks/LfsProjectLocks.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/locks/LfsProjectLocks.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.LfsDateTime;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.locks.LfsLocksHandler.LfsLockExistsException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
@@ -35,10 +36,6 @@
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.storage.file.LockFile;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lfs.errors.LfsException;
-import org.joda.time.DateTime;
-import org.joda.time.DateTimeZone;
-import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
-import org.joda.time.format.ISODateTimeFormat;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -48,12 +45,12 @@
   }
 
   private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LfsProjectLocks.class);
-  private static final DateTimeFormatter ISO = ISODateTimeFormat.dateTime();
   private static final Gson gson =
       new GsonBuilder()
           .setFieldNamingPolicy(FieldNamingPolicy.LOWER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES)
           .disableHtmlEscaping()
           .create();
+  private static final LfsDateTime FORMAT = LfsDateTime.instance();
 
   private final PathToLockId toLockId;
   private final String project;
@@ -107,7 +104,8 @@
       throw new LfsLockExistsException(lock);
     }
 
-    lock = new LfsLock(lockId, input.path, now(), new LfsLockOwner(user.getUserName().get()));
+    lock =
+        new LfsLock(lockId, input.path, FORMAT.now(), new LfsLockOwner(user.getUserName().get()));
     LockFile fileLock = new LockFile(locksPath.resolve(lockId).toFile());
     try {
       if (!fileLock.lock()) {
@@ -189,8 +187,4 @@
   Collection<LfsLock> getLocks() {
     return locks.asMap().values();
   }
-
-  private String now() {
-    return ISO.print(DateTime.now().toDateTime(DateTimeZone.UTC));
-  }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthTokenTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthTokenTest.java
index 185af35..c074151 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthTokenTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsAuthTokenTest.java
@@ -15,31 +15,28 @@
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs;
 
 import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
-import static com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.LfsAuthToken.ISO;
 import static com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs.LfsAuthToken.Verifier.onTime;
 
+import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
-import org.joda.time.DateTime;
-import org.joda.time.DateTimeZone;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class LfsAuthTokenTest {
   private final LfsCipher cipher = new LfsCipher();
+  private final LfsDateTime formatter = LfsDateTime.instance();
 
   @Test
   public void testExpiredTime() throws Exception {
-    DateTime now = now();
     // test that even 1ms expiration is enough
-    assertThat(onTime(ISO.print(now.minusMillis(1)))).isFalse();
+    assertThat(onTime(formatter.format(now().minusMillis(1)))).isFalse();
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testOnTime() throws Exception {
-    DateTime now = now();
     // if there is at least 1ms before there is no timeout
-    assertThat(onTime(ISO.print(now.plusMillis(1)))).isTrue();
+    assertThat(onTime(formatter.format(now().plusMillis(1)))).isTrue();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -69,8 +66,8 @@
     assertThat(verifier.verify()).isFalse();
   }
 
-  private DateTime now() {
-    return DateTime.now().toDateTime(DateTimeZone.UTC);
+  private Instant now() {
+    return Instant.now();
   }
 
   private class TestToken extends LfsAuthToken {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsDateTimeTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsDateTimeTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99dcfe2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/lfs/LfsDateTimeTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.lfs;
+
+import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
+
+import java.time.Instant;
+import java.util.TimeZone;
+import org.joda.time.DateTime;
+import org.joda.time.DateTimeZone;
+import org.joda.time.format.ISODateTimeFormat;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.theories.DataPoints;
+import org.junit.experimental.theories.Theories;
+import org.junit.experimental.theories.Theory;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+@RunWith(Theories.class)
+public class LfsDateTimeTest {
+  @DataPoints public static String[] timeZones = {"US/Eastern", "Asia/Tokyo", "UTC"};
+
+  @Test
+  public void formatWithDefaultTimezone() throws Exception {
+    DateTime now = DateTime.now();
+    String jodaFormat = ISODateTimeFormat.dateTime().print(now);
+    LfsDateTime formatter = LfsDateTime.instance();
+    String javaFormat = formatter.format(Instant.ofEpochMilli(now.getMillis()));
+    assertThat(javaFormat).isEqualTo(jodaFormat);
+  }
+
+  @Theory
+  public void formatWithSpecifiedTimezone(String zone) throws Exception {
+    DateTime now = DateTime.now().withZone(DateTimeZone.forID(zone));
+    String jodaFormat = ISODateTimeFormat.dateTime().withZone(DateTimeZone.forID(zone)).print(now);
+    LfsDateTime formatter = LfsDateTime.instance(TimeZone.getTimeZone(zone).toZoneId());
+    String javaFormat = formatter.format(Instant.ofEpochMilli(now.getMillis()));
+    assertThat(javaFormat).isEqualTo(jodaFormat);
+  }
+}