diff --git a/rq/exceptions.py b/rq/exceptions.py
index ebb6b3b..e9f58e0 100644
--- a/rq/exceptions.py
+++ b/rq/exceptions.py
@@ -29,3 +29,7 @@ class ShutDownImminentException(Exception):
     def __init__(self, msg, extra_info):
         self.extra_info = extra_info
         super(ShutDownImminentException, self).__init__(msg)
+
+
+class TimeoutFormatError(Exception):
+    pass
diff --git a/rq/queue.py b/rq/queue.py
index 9e4e2b5..090997e 100644
--- a/rq/queue.py
+++ b/rq/queue.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from .defaults import DEFAULT_RESULT_TTL
 from .exceptions import (DequeueTimeout, InvalidJobDependency,
                          InvalidJobOperationError, NoSuchJobError, UnpickleError)
 from .job import Job, JobStatus
-from .utils import backend_class, import_attribute, utcnow
+from .utils import backend_class, import_attribute, utcnow, parse_timeout
 
 
 def get_failed_queue(connection=None, job_class=None):
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class Queue(object):
         prefix = self.redis_queue_namespace_prefix
         self.name = name
         self._key = '{0}{1}'.format(prefix, name)
-        self._default_timeout = default_timeout
+        self._default_timeout = parse_timeout(default_timeout)
         self._async = async
 
         # override class attribute job_class if one was passed
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ class Queue(object):
         and kwargs as explicit arguments.  Any kwargs passed to this function
         contain options for RQ itself.
         """
-        timeout = timeout or self._default_timeout
+        timeout = parse_timeout(timeout) or self._default_timeout
 
         job = self.job_class.create(
             func, args=args, kwargs=kwargs, connection=self.connection,
diff --git a/rq/utils.py b/rq/utils.py
index 7558100..d7ec53c 100644
--- a/rq/utils.py
+++ b/rq/utils.py
@@ -12,10 +12,12 @@ import calendar
 import datetime
 import importlib
 import logging
+import numbers
 import sys
 from collections import Iterable
 
 from .compat import as_text, is_python_version, string_types
+from .exceptions import TimeoutFormatError
 
 
 class _Colorizer(object):
@@ -242,3 +244,21 @@ def backend_class(holder, default_name, override=None):
         return import_attribute(override)
     else:
         return override
+
+
+def parse_timeout(timeout):
+    """Transfer all kinds of timeout format to an integer representing seconds"""
+    if not isinstance(timeout, numbers.Integral) and timeout is not None:
+        try:
+            timeout = int(timeout)
+        except ValueError:
+            digit, unit = timeout[:-1], (timeout[-1:]).lower()
+            unit_second = {'h': 3600, 'm': 60, 's': 1}
+            try:
+                timeout = int(digit) * unit_second[unit]
+            except (ValueError, KeyError):
+                raise TimeoutFormatError('Timeout must be an integer or a string representing an integer, or '
+                                         'a string with format: digits + unit, unit can be "h", "m", "s", '
+                                         'such as "1h", "23m".')
+
+    return timeout
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3d9ef9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
+                        unicode_literals)
+
+from tests import RQTestCase
+from rq.utils import parse_timeout
+
+
+class TestUtils(RQTestCase):
+    def test_parse_timeout(self):
+        """Ensure function parse_timeout works correctly"""
+        self.assertEqual(12, parse_timeout(12))
+        self.assertEqual(12, parse_timeout('12'))
+        self.assertEqual(12, parse_timeout('12s'))
+        self.assertEqual(720, parse_timeout('12m'))
+        self.assertEqual(3600, parse_timeout('1h'))
+        self.assertEqual(3600, parse_timeout('1H'))