Export Strava Data: GPS Files, Heart Rate & Activity History (2026)

Two different exports, for two different jobs

Strava gives you a per-activity download and a full account archive. They are separate, they produce different files, and you probably want both eventually. The single file is the quick one. The archive is the one that matters if Strava ever stops caring about you.

How to export one activity (GPX, FIT or original)

1. Sign in at strava.com on a computer. The per-activity export is a web feature, so the phone app will not do this for you.
2. Open the activity you want.
3. Click the three-dot menu on the activity page.
4. Choose "Export GPX" for a file Strava regenerates from its own data, or "Export Original" if the activity was uploaded from a device and you want the file exactly as it was recorded.
5. There is also a TCX option, but it is not in the menu. Add /export_tcx to the end of the activity URL and it downloads.
6. Note which one you took. "Export Original" is usually the better file, because Strava re-encodes what it regenerates and some sensor detail does not survive the trip.

How to export all your activities (bulk export)

1. Sign in at strava.com.
2. Hover your name in the top right and open Settings.
3. Open the My Account tab.
4. Under "Download your account", click "Get Started".
5. Click "Request download".
6. Wait for the email. Strava says it may take a few hours, and large accounts can take considerably longer.
7. The download link goes to the email address on your Strava profile, so check that inbox, not necessarily the one you are reading this from.

What the archive contains

• An activities/ folder, with one file per activity. The format follows how the activity was originally uploaded, so it is usually a FIT file, sometimes compressed as .fit.gz, and GPX on some accounts. One export can therefore contain a mixture.
• activities.csv: one spreadsheet row per activity, covering distance, time, elevation and whatever else Strava felt like recording that year.
• And then the part where you have to find out for yourself. Strava does not publish a list of what the archive contains. Its own support article documents how to request the export and then stops, with no file manifest.
• Older guides name a set of extra files: profile.csv, comments.csv, kudos.csv. Plenty of people report the social data being missing, and nobody has found an official statement either way.
• So unzip it and look. That is genuinely the only way to know what you got, and it takes ten seconds. What is not worth doing is planning around a file list you read somewhere, because the format has changed more than once.

GPX, FIT or TCX

• GPX: an open XML standard. Plain text, you can read it in a text editor, and almost anything imports it.
• FIT: Garmin's binary format. Smaller files, holds more sensor detail including power, cadence and HRV, but you need a tool to read it.
• TCX: an older Garmin format, close to GPX. Strava generates this on demand for a single activity via the /export_tcx URL trick below, rather than handing it to you in the archive.
• For compatibility, keep the GPX. If you care about power or advanced metrics, keep the FIT as well. Keeping both costs nothing.

What Strava stores about you

• Every activity with its GPS track, timestamps and duration
• Pace, speed, distance and elevation per activity
• Heart rate, if it was recorded
• Power, if you ride with a power meter
• Cadence and other sensor readings
• Segment times and your personal records
• Kudos and comments, yours and other people's
• Your follower and following lists
• Gear, meaning your shoes and bikes, with mileage totals
• Saved routes and route history
• Your profile and account information

Using the files elsewhere

• Garmin Connect: drag FIT or GPX files onto the web uploader. Mind the duplicates; our <a href="/guides/strava-to-garmin">Strava to Garmin guide</a> covers the import and clean-up.
• Wahoo: use the Wahoo app, or push the route to your device through RideWithGPS.
• Runalyze: takes GPX or FIT and gives you VO2 max trends, training load and fitness-fatigue curves, which Strava does not.
• Komoot or RideWithGPS, for route planning rather than training analysis.
• Google Earth or CalTopo with the GPX files, if you just want to look at a route.
• activities.csv in a spreadsheet, for your own numbers across the whole history.

Saved routes are a different thing

A route is a path you planned. An activity is a recording of something you actually did. Strava stores them separately and exports them separately, which trips people up fairly often. Routes only export as GPX, and there is no original file to ask for because Strava did not record them.

1. Go to My Routes in the left navigation, or from your profile under Saved.
2. Open the route.
3. Click the three-dot menu at the top of the route page.
4. Choose "Export GPX".

If you delete your Strava account

• Strava's privacy policy says it can take up to 45 days to delete your personal information and system logs after you close an account. You do not get 45 days to change your mind about whether you wanted the files.
• Your activities stop being visible to other people straight away.
• Do the export first. There is no version of this where deleting first and exporting later works.

Where to keep it

• Keep the activities folder. Each file is small, but the collection is the only copy of years of your training that does not depend on somebody else's business decision.
• Name the folder with the date, something like strava-2026-09.
• Keep an off-site copy: ProtonDrive or pCloud.
• activities.csv is worth its own copy even if you discard the rest. It is a clean spreadsheet of your entire history and it is the piece you will still be able to read in ten years.

Related guides

• Getting Started with Digital Takeout Day (2026)
• Strava to Garmin: What Transfers and What Not
• Back Up Your Data Exports: Storage, Encryption & Organisation (2026)

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