GPX files for cycling: what they are and how to use them

What is a GPX file, in plain words?

A GPX file is a route or ride saved as a list of points on the map, in a format almost every cycling app and bike computer can read. It's how a GPX file for cycling moves a route from the planner where you drew it to the device that guides you.

GPX stands for GPS Exchange Format. TopoGrafix, which publishes the standard, describes it as a lightweight XML format for swapping GPS data between applications and web services. Version 1.0 arrived in 2002, and version 1.1, still the current one, in August 2004. It's open, so every major platform supports it.

What's inside a GPX file?

Points, grouped as tracks, routes and waypoints. Each point has a latitude and longitude, and usually an elevation and a time.

Here's a trimmed track from a recorded ride:

<gpx version="1.1" creator="Example">
  <trk>
    <name>Saturday loop</name>
    <trkseg>
      <trkpt lat="51.4545" lon="-2.5879">
        <ele>14.0</ele>
        <time>2026-09-13T07:02:11Z</time>
      </trkpt>
      <!-- thousands more points -->
    </trkseg>
  </trk>
</gpx>

The GPX 1.1 schema sets the rules. Latitude and longitude are decimal degrees on the WGS84 datum that GPS uses. Elevation is in metres. Times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC); the "Z" marks that.

Ride with GPS says a GPX route makes your device plot the path between cue points, so it may differ slightly from the plan. Most riders want a GPX track.

Want this for your own route? Windline shows the wind for every stretch, timed to your pace. Free. Make a free ride page →

Where do you get GPX files for cycling?

From the planner you use, from published route libraries, or from your event's organiser.

Export from your planner:

• Strava: website only. Routes download from the down arrow icon, your own rides from Export GPX. See how to export a GPX file from Strava.
• Komoot: open a saved route or activity and choose Download GPX file. The region where it starts must be unlocked. See how to download a GPX file from Komoot.
• Ride with GPS: on the web, More, then Export as File; in the app, the three-dot menu, then Export GPX. Whole multi-day trips are covered in exporting a GPX file from Ride with GPS.
• Garmin Connect: courses and activities export differently; see exporting a route from Garmin Connect as GPX.

Download a published route. EuroVelo has offered free GPX downloads of its long-distance routes across Europe since 2022, under an open-data licence since 2024. Cycling UK publishes routes with GPX files. In North America, the Adventure Cycling Association sells its routes as digital routes in Ride with GPS, with GPX downloads.

Ask the organiser. For a sportive or tour, use the official file.

How do you load a GPX file onto a bike computer or app?

Import it into the companion app or website, then sync.

• Garmin Edge: upload the GPX to the Garmin Connect website, where it becomes a course. Garmin's Edge manual then says to choose Send to Device and sync.
• Wahoo ELEMNT ACE, BOLT 3 and ROAM 3: open the file on your phone, choose the Wahoo app, confirm the import, then Send to ELEMNT from My Routes.
• Komoot: Profile, Saved routes, Import. It takes GPX, TCX and FIT. If the file leaves known roads, choose to stick to the original line or match it to known ways.
• Ride with GPS: Upload on the website takes GPX, TCX, KML, KMZ and FIT, several files at once.
• Strava: on the website, Dashboard, My Routes, Create New Route, then the upload button.

Ride with GPS, Komoot and Strava can also send routes to Garmin devices without a file. GPX is the fallback when services don't connect.

GPX, FIT or TCX: which should you use?

Use GPX to move a route between apps, and a course file (FIT or TCX) when you want turn cues on a bike computer.

Ride with GPS explains that its GPX track carries only the GPS points, while its TCX and FIT course files carry the cue sheet, and some Garmin devices require FIT. Strava suggests GPX for devices with base maps and TCX for those without. For a forecast or a planner, GPX is all you need. See GPX vs FIT vs TCX for the full comparison.

How do you edit, trim or split a GPX file?

Open it in an editor, change it and export a new file.

The open-source browser editor gpx.studio handles most jobs. Its Crop tool keeps only the part of a trace you choose. Its Split tool cuts a trace at any point, into two GPX files or into separate tracks or segments in one file. That's how you trim a home start, or cut a 600 km (373 mile) tour into daily stages.

Planners edit too. Komoot Premium can turn a long imported route (seven hours or more) into a multi-day route. Choosing where each day ends is covered in how to split a GPX route into stages.

Can a GPX file give away where you live?

Yes, if it's a ride you recorded from home. Your own export is the whole file, with every point and timestamp from your front door.

Strava hides the first and last 200 m (656 ft) of new activity maps by default, and you can hide more within a 1-mile (1.6 km) radius. But Strava says those settings aren't shared to other services, and hiding a spot doesn't make it impossible to work out. Before you share a recorded ride:

1. Trim the ends. Crop the first and last kilometre (0.6 miles) or more.
2. Share a planned route instead. It carries no ride history. Ride with GPS says its app GPX export is coordinate-only.
3. Check the times. Timestamps show when you were where, which matters if you ride the same way every week.

How do you turn a GPX file into a route-timed forecast?

Add a start time and a pace. A GPX shows where the road goes, not when you'll be there.

A route-timed forecast splits the route into stretches, works out when you'll reach each one, and shows the weather for that place at that hour. For a flat 90 km (56 mile) loop at 24 km/h (15 mph) from 08:00, with no stops:

The last third sits in late-morning weather, when the wind often builds, which a breakfast forecast for your start town misses. Then compare the wind with each road's direction, as in our guide to cycling in the wind.

Planning in Strava? See [the weather along a Strava route](/blog/strava-route-weather/).

Which apps and devices handle GPX, and how?

All the main ones. This is what each platform's help pages said on 19 September 2026.

Which GPX terms should you know?

These come up whenever you move a route between apps.

• GPX: GPS Exchange Format, an open XML format for waypoints, routes and tracks.
• Track point: one point on a track, with latitude, longitude and optional elevation and time.
• Cue sheet: turn-by-turn instructions stored in a course file, not in a GPX track.
• Course: Garmin's name for a route loaded onto a device to follow.
• WGS84: the coordinate system GPS uses, and GPX coordinates follow.
• UTC: Coordinated Universal Time, the clock GPX timestamps use.

How do you put it all together for a real ride?

Get the file, check it, forecast it, then load it.

1. Get the right file. Export a planned route where you can, or download the organiser's official GPX.
2. Check it. Compare its distance and start with what you expect.
3. Forecast it. The night before, run a route-timed forecast with your real start time and pace, and read a cycling weather forecast stretch by stretch.
4. Load it. Import it into Garmin Connect, the Wahoo app or your phone app, sync, and check the device shows it.
5. Share one link. For a group, send one forecast link rather than a file, as in our checklist for organising a group ride.

Compare forecast tools in the best weather apps for cycling.