GPX to FIT Converter

Make a Garmin course from a GPX route

Route planners such as Komoot, RideWithGPS, Strava routes, Outdooractive or AllTrails export GPX. Garmin devices navigate best with a FIT course file: it carries the line, the elevation profile, a pace for the virtual partner and course points such as summits or water stops. This converter builds that course file in your browser.

Step by step

1. Export the route as GPX from your planner (a track or a route file both work).
2. Drop the file into the converter above. It reads the file straight away and shows how many points, segments and waypoints it found.
3. Pick Course (for Garmin navigation), give the course a short name (most Garmin screens show about 15 characters) and choose the sport.
4. If the GPX has no timestamps (a planned route), enter the pace you expect. It sets the virtual partner and the estimated finish time. Recorded tracks keep their own times.
5. Click Create FIT course and download the _course.fit file.

Get the course onto your device

• Garmin Connect (web or app): open Training & Planning → Courses → Import, choose the .fit file, save the course and send it to your device.
• USB: connect an Edge or a watch and copy the file into the Garmin/NewFiles folder. The device imports it as a course the next time it starts.
• Wahoo ELEMNT and some other head units import GPX routes directly, so you only need the FIT course for devices that ask for it.

Course or Activity: which output do I need?

A Course is a route to follow. The file type is course and it contains a course message, one lap with the total distance and climb, timer events, the track records and course points made from the GPX waypoints. Waypoints more than 500 m from the line are skipped because a device cannot reach them.

An Activity is a finished workout, for example a ride recorded on a phone app that only exports GPX. The converter keeps the recorded timestamps, every <trkseg> segment (paused rides get timer stop and start events, so moving time is right) and the sensor data from the Garmin TrackPointExtension: heart rate, cadence and temperature, plus power from the Garmin PowerExtension or a plain <power> tag. Upload the result to Garmin Connect, Strava or TrainingPeaks as an activity.

What is read from the GPX file

• Latitude, longitude and elevation of every <trkpt> or <rtept>
• Recorded <time> values (kept as they are)
• Heart rate, cadence, temperature and power extensions
• Track or route name (used as the course name) and <type> (used as the sport)
• <wpt> waypoints, turned into course points with a matching type where the name or symbol says summit, water, food, danger, left, right and so on

When the conversion fails

• "not well-formed XML": the download was cut off or the file was edited by hand. Export it again.
• "only contains waypoints": the file has points but no line. Draw or export a route, not just a list of places.
• Garmin Connect rejects the course: check that you picked Course, not Activity. Activities are uploaded with the activity import instead.

Nothing is uploaded: the GPX is parsed and the FIT file is written in your browser, so private routes, home addresses and health data stay on your device.