diff --git a/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js b/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js
index cffbfb50d1a6..f368389a3a7f 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ describe('AggConfig Filters', function () {
       expect(fieldParams).to.have.property('lte');
       expect(fieldParams.lte).to.be.a('number');
 
+      expect(fieldParams).to.have.property('format');
+      expect(fieldParams.format).to.be('epoch_millis');
+
       expect(fieldParams.gte).to.be.lessThan(fieldParams.lte);
 
       expect(filter).to.have.property('meta');
diff --git a/src/ui/public/agg_types/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js b/src/ui/public/agg_types/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js
index ce3a85c8b909..6ba247ea8fbf 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/agg_types/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/agg_types/buckets/create_filter/date_histogram.js
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ export default function createDateHistogramFilterProvider(Private) {
 
     return buildRangeFilter(agg.params.field, {
       gte: start.valueOf(),
-      lte: start.add(interval).subtract(1, 'ms').valueOf()
+      lte: start.add(interval).subtract(1, 'ms').valueOf(),
+      format: 'epoch_millis'
     }, agg.vis.indexPattern);
   };