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GPX to KML Converter
Turn .gpx tracks into .kml files that open in Google Earth with one double-click — the easiest way to show a hiking route, a bike tour or a race course to someone who owns no GPS software. The conversion runs entirely in your browser; your file never leaves your device.
How to convert to KML
- 1
Drop your file
Drag a FIT, GPX, TCX, KML, KMZ or GeoJSON file onto the box above, or click it to browse. The source format is detected automatically from the file contents.
- 2
Wait a beat
The conversion runs in a background worker on your device. Typical activities finish in well under a second; even 50 MB files process without freezing the page.
- 3
Check the preview
Distance, duration, ascent and average heart rate are shown alongside a map of the converted track, so you can confirm nothing was lost before downloading.
- 4
Download
Click the download button and the .kml file is saved straight from memory. Nothing was uploaded, so there is nothing to clean up.
What is a GPX file?
GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is the universal, open XML format for GPS data, standardized by TopoGrafix and supported by essentially every mapping application on earth — Strava, Google Earth, Komoot, RideWithGPS, Garmin BaseCamp, QGIS and hundreds of others. A GPX file stores waypoints, routes and tracks as latitude/longitude pairs, optionally with elevation and timestamps, and Garmin's TrackPointExtension carries heart rate, cadence and power alongside each point.
Because GPX is plain text XML, it is readable, diffable, scriptable and trivially editable — which makes it the lingua franca when a track needs to move between ecosystems. The cost is size: the same activity as GPX is typically 5-10× larger than FIT, and consumer-oriented apps sometimes ignore the extension channels. For archiving, editing and cross-platform sharing, though, GPX remains the safest long-term bet.
What is a KML file?
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is the XML dialect born inside Keyhole — the software that became Google Earth — and later standardized by the OGC. It describes geographic features for display: placemarks, lines, polygons and images, each with the styling and folders that make a KML file read like a curated map rather than a raw data dump. Google Earth, Google My Maps and most desktop GIS packages open it natively.
KML is a mapping format, not a training format. Its geometry carries position and elevation well — and Google's gx:Track extension can even carry per-point timestamps for time-slider playback — but it has no concept of heart rate, cadence or power. Converting an activity to KML is the right move when the goal is showing a route to humans; when the goal is analyzing a workout, the fitness formats are the right home for the data.
Why share a GPX route as KML?
GPX is the format tools exchange; KML is the format people actually open. Email a .gpx to a friend without a mapping app and they'll stare at a download they can't use. Email a .kml and double-click puts the route onto the Google Earth globe — free app, no account, works on phone and desktop. For trip planning with non-technical companions, that difference decides whether the route gets looked at all.
Recorded tracks with timestamps convert to Google's gx:Track, so Earth's time slider can replay the activity; hand-drawn routes without timestamps become clean LineStrings drawn exactly as planned. Elevation carries over either way, so the terrain the route crosses is visible in Earth's 3D view — the honest preview of how steep day two really is.
KML also unlocks My Maps: import the converted file into a custom Google map, add markers for huts and resupply points, and share one link with the whole group instead of mailing files around.
What converts, and what to know beforehand
Every track point maps across — position, elevation, timestamp — and multiple track segments become separate placemarks in document order. The output is standard OGC KML 2.2, which Google Earth, Google My Maps, QGIS, ArcGIS Earth and Marble all read without complaint.
Two honest notes. Heart rate, cadence and power in the GPX extensions have no KML home, so they are dropped — KML is a display format, and nobody's heart rate renders on a globe. And waypoints: a GPX file's named waypoints are point features rather than track geometry, so this converter focuses on the track itself; re-add key locations as My Maps markers if the audience needs them labeled.
Your files never leave this browser
This tool — like every tool on this site — runs entirely as client-side JavaScript. The file you drop is parsed in a Web Worker on your own device, converted in memory and handed straight back to you as a download. There is no upload endpoint, no server-side conversion service and no temporary storage: you can watch the network tab in your browser's developer tools and confirm that no file bytes are transmitted anywhere.
That matters more with fitness data than with most files. A GPS track is a precise log of where you were, at what time, and how hard your heart was working — home address, training habits, favorite routes and race schedule all in one file. Keeping conversion on-device means third-party converters never get a copy of that log, and the tool keeps working identically on a plane, in a basement, or anywhere else without signal.
GPX vs KML at a glance
| Aspect | GPX | KML |
|---|---|---|
| Format type | Open GPS exchange XML | Display-oriented XML (Google Earth) |
| Typical use | Mapping apps, navigation, archives | Showing routes in Earth / My Maps |
| GPS + elevation | Yes | Yes |
| Timestamps | Optional per point | gx:Track when present |
| Heart rate / power | Via TrackPointExtension | Not representable — dropped |
| Best for | Moving data between tools | Human-friendly 3D display |
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The Google Earth mobile app opens KML files from email attachments and cloud storage. Tilt the view and the route appears over real terrain with the elevation profile of the original track.