diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/StateTimelineTooltip.tsx b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/StateTimelineTooltip.tsx
index 58d32a6cedd..c846ab5235a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/StateTimelineTooltip.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/StateTimelineTooltip.tsx
@@ -1,15 +1,7 @@
 import React from 'react';
-import {
-  DataFrame,
-  FALLBACK_COLOR,
-  formattedValueToString,
-  getDisplayProcessor,
-  getFieldDisplayName,
-  getValueFormat,
-  TimeZone,
-} from '@grafana/data';
+import { DataFrame, FALLBACK_COLOR, getDisplayProcessor, getFieldDisplayName, TimeZone } from '@grafana/data';
 import { SeriesTableRow, useTheme2 } from '@grafana/ui';
-import { findNextStateIndex } from './utils';
+import { findNextStateIndex, fmtDuration } from './utils';
 
 interface StateTimelineTooltipProps {
   data: DataFrame[];
@@ -57,7 +49,7 @@ export const StateTimelineTooltip: React.FC<StateTimelineTooltipProps> = ({
   let durationFragment = null;
 
   if (nextStateTs) {
-    const duration = nextStateTs && formattedValueToString(getValueFormat('dtdurationms')(nextStateTs - stateTs, 0));
+    const duration = nextStateTs && fmtDuration(nextStateTs - stateTs);
     durationFragment = (
       <>
         <br />
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.test.ts
index 0988a31b121..d0ef960f24e 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 import { ArrayVector, createTheme, FieldType, ThresholdsMode, toDataFrame } from '@grafana/data';
 import { LegendDisplayMode } from '@grafana/schema';
-import { findNextStateIndex, getThresholdItems, prepareTimelineFields, prepareTimelineLegendItems } from './utils';
+import {
+  findNextStateIndex,
+  fmtDuration,
+  getThresholdItems,
+  prepareTimelineFields,
+  prepareTimelineLegendItems,
+} from './utils';
 
 const theme = createTheme();
 
@@ -221,3 +227,35 @@ describe('prepareTimelineLegendItems', () => {
     expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
   });
 });
+
+describe('duration', () => {
+  it.each`
+    value               | expected
+    ${-1}               | ${''}
+    ${20}               | ${'20ms'}
+    ${1000}             | ${'1s'}
+    ${1020}             | ${'1s 20ms'}
+    ${60000}            | ${'1m'}
+    ${61020}            | ${'1m 1s'}
+    ${3600000}          | ${'1h'}
+    ${6600000}          | ${'1h 50m'}
+    ${86400000}         | ${'1d'}
+    ${96640000}         | ${'1d 2h'}
+    ${604800000}        | ${'1w'}
+    ${691200000}        | ${'1w 1d'}
+    ${2419200000}       | ${'4w'}
+    ${2678400000}       | ${'1mo 1d'}
+    ${3196800000}       | ${'1mo 1w'}
+    ${3456000000}       | ${'1mo 1w 3d'}
+    ${6739200000}       | ${'2mo 2w 4d'}
+    ${31536000000}      | ${'1y'}
+    ${31968000000}      | ${'1y 5d'}
+    ${32140800000}      | ${'1y 1w'}
+    ${67910400000}      | ${'2y 1mo 3w 5d'}
+    ${40420800000}      | ${'1y 3mo 1w 5d'}
+    ${9007199254740991} | ${'285616y 5mo 1d'}
+  `(' function should format $value ms to $expected', ({ value, expected }) => {
+    const result = fmtDuration(value);
+    expect(result).toEqual(expected);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts
index 0cd5b596d1a..57475d0b86a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts
@@ -570,3 +570,63 @@ export function findNextStateIndex(field: Field, datapointIdx: number) {
 
   return end;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns the precise duration of a time range passed in milliseconds.
+ * This function calculates with 30 days month and 365 days year.
+ * adapted from https://gist.github.com/remino/1563878
+ * @param milliSeconds The duration in milliseconds
+ * @returns A formated string of the duration
+ */
+export function fmtDuration(milliSeconds: number): string {
+  if (milliSeconds < 0 || Number.isNaN(milliSeconds)) {
+    return '';
+  }
+
+  let yr: number, mo: number, wk: number, d: number, h: number, m: number, s: number, ms: number;
+
+  s = Math.floor(milliSeconds / 1000);
+  m = Math.floor(s / 60);
+  s = s % 60;
+  h = Math.floor(m / 60);
+  m = m % 60;
+  d = Math.floor(h / 24);
+  h = h % 24;
+
+  yr = Math.floor(d / 365);
+  if (yr > 0) {
+    d = d % 365;
+  }
+
+  mo = Math.floor(d / 30);
+  if (mo > 0) {
+    d = d % 30;
+  }
+
+  wk = Math.floor(d / 7);
+
+  if (wk > 0) {
+    d = d % 7;
+  }
+
+  ms = Math.round((milliSeconds % 1000) * 1000) / 1000;
+
+  return (yr > 0
+    ? yr + 'y ' + (mo > 0 ? mo + 'mo ' : '') + (wk > 0 ? wk + 'w ' : '') + (d > 0 ? d + 'd ' : '')
+    : mo > 0
+    ? mo + 'mo ' + (wk > 0 ? wk + 'w ' : '') + (d > 0 ? d + 'd ' : '')
+    : wk > 0
+    ? wk + 'w ' + (d > 0 ? d + 'd ' : '')
+    : d > 0
+    ? d + 'd ' + (h > 0 ? h + 'h ' : '')
+    : h > 0
+    ? h + 'h ' + (m > 0 ? m + 'm ' : '')
+    : m > 0
+    ? m + 'm ' + (s > 0 ? s + 's ' : '')
+    : s > 0
+    ? s + 's ' + (ms > 0 ? ms + 'ms ' : '')
+    : ms > 0
+    ? ms + 'ms '
+    : '0'
+  ).trim();
+}