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How to Export a GPX File from Strava (and Use It Anywhere)

7 min read · Updated February 11, 2026

Strava is where a lot of activities live, but it is not always where you want them to stay. Maybe you are moving to a new watch, sending a route to a coach, planning to edit a track, or you simply want your own copy. Whatever the reason, getting a GPX file out of Strava takes about thirty seconds once you know where to look. This guide covers the desktop route, the mobile workaround, and what to do when the file does not behave.

What a GPX export from Strava contains

When you export an activity from Strava you get a GPX file with the recorded track: latitude, longitude, elevation and a timestamp on every point. If the activity was recorded with a heart-rate strap or a cadence sensor, that data is included too, stored in Garmin's TrackPointExtension format. What you do not get is Strava's segments, kudos or social layer — a GPX is just the route and its sensor data, which is exactly what other apps want.

Export from Strava on a desktop browser (the easy way)

The cleanest method is on a computer:

Log in to strava.com and open the activity you want.
Click the three-dot menu (More options) near the top-right of the activity.
Choose Export GPX. If the activity was uploaded from a device file, you may also see Export Original, which gives you the file exactly as your device recorded it (often a FIT or TCX).
Your browser downloads a .gpx file named after the activity.

That is the whole process. The Export GPX option is always available for your own activities, even ones recorded by someone else on a group ride, as long as you have the activity on your account.

Exporting from your phone

The Strava mobile app does not have a direct "Export GPX" button, which trips a lot of people up. You have two good options:

Use a mobile browser. Open strava.com in Safari or Chrome on your phone, request the desktop site if needed, open the activity, and use the same three-dot → Export GPX flow described above.
Append /export_gpx to the URL. Every activity has an ID in its web address, for example strava.com/activities/1234567890. Adding /export_gpx to the end — strava.com/activities/1234567890/export_gpx — triggers the download directly while you are logged in.

Now that you have the GPX, what next?

A GPX file on its own is not much use until you put it somewhere. Here are the most common next steps, and the TrackKit tool that helps with each:

Load it onto a different watch or bike computer. Most devices read GPX directly. If you were handed a KML instead of a GPX, our KML to GPX converter gets it into the right format.
See it in Google Earth. Turn the route into a KML with the GPX to KML converter and drape it over 3D terrain.
Analyse it in a spreadsheet. The GPX to CSV converter flattens every point into rows you can chart in Excel or load with pandas.
Combine several activities. If your ride was split into pieces, or you want a whole trip in one file, the merge GPX tool stitches them together.
Shrink a giant file. Long activities can be several megabytes. The simplify GPX tool cuts the size while keeping the shape.

Common problems and fixes

"Export Original" gave me a FIT file

If you exported the original and got a .fit file, that is your device's raw binary format. Not every app reads FIT. The reliable path is to use Export GPX instead, which Strava generates for you as clean, universal GPX.

My heart rate is missing after export

Strava only includes heart rate and cadence in the GPX if those sensors were connected during the recording. If you exported the GPX and the data is there but a later conversion lost it, check the format you converted to — KML cannot store heart rate. Convert to GPX or CSV to keep it, and TrackKit will warn you whenever a conversion would drop sensor data.

The route starts at my house

It almost certainly does, and that is worth pausing on. A GPX file is a precise record of where you were and when. If you upload it to a random online converter, you are handing your home address to a stranger's server. Every TrackKit tool runs entirely in your browser for exactly this reason — your file is read, converted and downloaded without ever being sent anywhere. If you want to blur the start and end, simplifying or trimming the track before sharing is a sensible habit.

The bottom line

Exporting a GPX from Strava is a two-click job on desktop and a URL trick on mobile. The interesting part is what you do next — and for converting, merging, simplifying or analysing that file, you can do all of it here without your route ever leaving your device. Start with the universal converter if you are not sure which tool you need.