<p>What does it mean when you get or create a date in UTC format in JavaScript?</p>

getUTC is for converting times to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, the acronym is ordered differently than what it stands for) which is the standard time based on the time in Greenwich, London.
The universal time is calculated using a time offset (in minutes when in JavaScript.) This offset is based on the time zone configured on the client browser's operating system.
If you plan on storing dates for users in multiple time zones, this is what you should use.