How to export a GPX from Strava
Strava will give you any of your own runs as a GPX file, but only from the website. The app on your phone has no export button. Here is the current way to do it, as of October 2026, plus how to get the original file and your whole history.
Not sure whether you want GPX or FIT? The short version is here: GPX for the route, FIT for everything.
Export one run as GPX (on a computer)
- 01Go to strava.com, log in, and open the run.
- 02In the column on the left of the activity page, click … (the More menu, next to the pencil).
- 03Click Export GPX. The file downloads straight away.
The GPX holds the GPS track with timestamps, plus heart rate, cadence and temperature if you recorded them.
In the same menu, Export Original gives you the file exactly as it was uploaded, usually a FIT from your watch. Strava recommends that one for backups. There's no menu item for TCX, but adding /export_tcx to the end of the activity's web address downloads one.
Export from your phone
The Strava app can't export files. Use the website in your phone's browser instead:
- 01Open strava.com in Safari or Chrome and log in.
- 02Switch to the desktop version of the site from the browser menu: Request Desktop Website in Safari, Desktop site in Chrome.
- 03Open the run, tap …, then Export GPX.
Shortcut: every activity has a number at the end of its web address (strava.com/activities/1234567890). Add /export_gpx to the end of that address while you're logged in, and the GPX downloads.
Download every activity at once
- 01On strava.com, open Settings from your profile picture in the top right.
- 02Choose My Account in the left menu.
- 03Under Download your account, click Get Started, then Request download.
- 04Wait for the email. Strava says it may take a few hours; the link arrives at the address on your account.
The download is a ZIP with an activities folder and a spreadsheet of every activity. Each run is in the format it was uploaded in, usually a compressed FIT (.fit.gz), sometimes GPX or TCX. The archive does not convert everything to GPX.
Things to know first
Privacy zones don't apply to your own export. If you hide the start and finish of your runs on Strava, other people don't see those parts, but your own GPX includes the full track, front door and all. Trim it before posting the file anywhere public.
Treadmill and indoor runs have no route. Without GPS, the GPX comes out empty or unreadable. Export Original still gives you the file your watch uploaded.
Someone else's run has a GPX download button at the top right of its map, if they've made the activity visible to you. That file is the route only, stripped of time and performance data.
An activity is not a route. Strava Routes are planned paths for navigation. If you want what you actually ran, export the activity, not a route.
What to do with it
A GPX is the shape of the run as your watch saw it. Laurels draws from exactly that: shorts embroidered with the route, the time and the weeks behind it. The free tools (Race Wrapped, Run Receipts, Run Song) will take a GPX when they open.
Common questions
Can you export a GPX from the Strava app?
No. Strava only offers export on its website. On a phone, open strava.com in your browser, switch to the desktop site, open the run and choose … then Export GPX.
Do you need a Strava subscription to export GPX?
No. Exporting your own activities, and requesting your full archive, is not listed as a subscriber feature. Creating routes is.
How do I download all my Strava activities at once?
Go to Settings, then My Account, then Download your account, and click Get Started and Request download. Strava emails you a ZIP, which may take a few hours. Activities come in their original format, mostly FIT.
Does Strava's privacy zone hide my start in the GPX export?
Not in your own export. Privacy zones hide the start and finish from other people, but the GPX you download of your own activity includes the full track.
What is the difference between Export GPX and Export Original?
Export GPX converts the activity to a GPX with the track and common sensor data. Export Original returns the exact file that was uploaded, usually a FIT from your watch, with everything it recorded.
Keep reading
Laurels makes custom embroidered running shorts, drawn from your own GPS data.
See the shorts →