diff --git a/CHANGELOG-3.x.md b/CHANGELOG-3.x.md
index eb6f0cb..e894ed2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG-3.x.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG-3.x.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## v3.0.0 - unreleased
 
+### Changed
+- `DateFormatExtension::dateFormat` method has changed.  
+
 ### Removed
 - `SmartyCycleExtension` was removed
 - Short template names (without file extensions `".html.twig"`) are not longer supported.
diff --git a/src/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtension.php b/src/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtension.php
index ffce166..c9d0989 100644
--- a/src/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtension.php
+++ b/src/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtension.php
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ public function getFilters()
      *
      * @return string|null
      */
-    public function dateFormat($string, $format = '%b %e, %Y', $defaultDate = '')
+    public function dateFormat($string, $format = 'M j, Y', $defaultDate = ''): ?string
     {
         if ($string != '') {
             $timestamp = $this->getTimestamp($string);
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public function dateFormat($string, $format = '%b %e, %Y', $defaultDate = '')
             $format = $this->dateFormatHelper->fixWindowsTimeFormat($format, $timestamp);
         }
 
-        return strftime($format, $timestamp);
+        return date($format, $timestamp);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/Unit/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtensionTest.php b/tests/Unit/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtensionTest.php
index 7f82aff..a64ad01 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtensionTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/Extensions/Filters/DateFormatExtensionTest.php
@@ -33,18 +33,16 @@ public static function provider(): array
             ['foo', '', '', null],
             ['', 'foo', '', null],
             ['', '', 'foo', false],
-            ['foo', 'foo', '', 'foo'],
-            ['foo', 'foo', 'foo', 'foo'],
 
             //provided input string
-            [20_181_201_101_525, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', '', '2018-12-01 10:15:25'],           //mysql format
-            [1_543_850_519, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', '', '2018-12-03 16:21:59'],               //time()
-            ['Dec 03 15:21:59 2018', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', '', '2018-12-03 15:21:59'],   //string time
+            [20_181_201_101_525, 'Y-m-d H:i:s', '', '2018-12-01 10:15:25'],     //mysql format
+            [1_543_850_519, 'Y-m-d H:i:s', '', '2018-12-03 16:21:59'],          //time()
+            ['Dec 03 15:21:59 2018', 'Y-m-d H:i:s', '', '2018-12-03 15:21:59'], //string time
 
             //no input string provided, default date used
-            ['', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', 20_181_201_101_525, '2018-12-01 10:15:25'],           //mysql format
-            ['', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', 1_543_850_519, '2018-12-03 16:21:59'],               //time()
-            ['', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', 'Dec 03 15:21:59 2018', '2018-12-03 15:21:59'],   //string time
+            ['', 'Y-m-d H:i:s', 20_181_201_101_525, '2018-12-01 10:15:25'],     //mysql format
+            ['', 'Y-m-d H:i:s', 1_543_850_519, '2018-12-03 16:21:59'],          //time()
+            ['', 'Y-m-d H:i:s', 'Dec 03 15:21:59 2018', '2018-12-03 15:21:59'], //string time
         ];
     }