What is a TCX file, and how do I open it?

Training Center XML: Garmin's text format from the Training Center era, a GPX with laps, heart rate, cadence and totals added. Any text editor opens it as text; Garmin Connect, Strava and the free viewer here read it as a workout.

Does Garmin use TCX or GPX?

Both, and FIT. A modern Garmin records FIT. Garmin Connect can export an activity as TCX or GPX, and Strava's export menu offers TCX for activities that came from a device. TCX is the older of the two text formats.

How do I convert a TCX file to GPX?

Drop it into the TCX to GPX converter here — position, elevation and time come across, laps and heart rate do not, because GPX has no place for them. Or upload the TCX where you were going to upload the GPX; most services read both.

To upload past workouts to Strava, is GPX, TCX or FIT best?

FIT if you have it: everything the device recorded. TCX if the FIT is gone and you want laps and heart rate. GPX if you only need the route. Strava reads all three, and the activity looks the same afterwards.

What opens a TCX file?

Garmin Connect, Strava, Golden Cheetah and most training software by upload; the free GPX viewer here draws it; a text editor shows the XML.

Files: GPX, FIT and TCX 4 MIN READ

What is a TCX file, and when does Garmin give you one?

A TCX file is Garmin's older text format for workouts: like GPX with laps, heart rate and the watch's totals added. Where it still turns up, what opens it, whether to upload GPX, TCX or FIT, and how to convert it.

Words: Laus Risby · September 2026

A TCX file is a GPX with more in it. Garmin created *Training Center XML* for its old desktop software, and it does what the name says: it is a text file, like GPX, but built around a workout — laps, heart rate, cadence, calories and the watch's own totals, not just a trail of points. It has been superseded by FIT on the device, but it still turns up.

Where you meet one

Strava's export menu. On an activity that came from a device, the more menu on strava.com offers *Export TCX* next to *Export GPX* and *Export Original*. Original, GPX or TCX says which to take.
Garmin Connect. Export as TCX is one of the options on an activity, beside GPX and Original (FIT).
Older files. Anything exported before FIT became the default, and some third-party apps that never moved on.

What is inside

```xml <TrainingCenterDatabase> <Activities><Activity Sport="Running"> <Lap StartTime="2026-05-03T07:12:04Z"> <TotalTimeSeconds>1497</TotalTimeSeconds> <DistanceMeters>5012</DistanceMeters> <Calories>340</Calories> <Track> <Trackpoint> <Time>…</Time><Position><LatitudeDegrees>…</LatitudeDegrees>…</Position> <AltitudeMeters>14.2</AltitudeMeters> <HeartRateBpm><Value>142</Value></HeartRateBpm> </Trackpoint> ```

Every point carries time, position, altitude, distance so far, heart rate and cadence; every lap carries totals. That is more than a GPX and less than a FIT — no power fields in the base format, no device calibration, no session-level peaks beyond the lap.

What opens it

Garmin Connect and Strava take it as an upload. Golden Cheetah and training software read it. The GPX viewer here draws it — it sniffs the format, so the extension does not matter. A text editor shows the XML.

GPX, TCX or FIT for uploading old workouts

Strava accepts all three, and the activity looks the same afterwards. The order of preference is by what the file carries: FIT has everything the device recorded; TCX has laps and heart rate; GPX has the route, elevation and time. If you have the FIT, use it. If you only have a TCX, it is not a compromise for a normal run.

Converting it

TCX to GPX in the browser keeps position, elevation and time and drops laps and heart rate, because GPX has nowhere to put them. Going the other way is rarely needed: everything that reads GPX reads TCX.

For a print, the editor reads TCX directly and uses the lap totals for the numbers under the line. What your file carries lists what each format contributes.

Questions people actually ask

What is a TCX file, and how do I open it?: Training Center XML: Garmin's text format from the Training Center era, a GPX with laps, heart rate, cadence and totals added. Any text editor opens it as text; Garmin Connect, Strava and the free viewer here read it as a workout.
Does Garmin use TCX or GPX?: Both, and FIT. A modern Garmin records FIT. Garmin Connect can export an activity as TCX or GPX, and Strava's export menu offers TCX for activities that came from a device. TCX is the older of the two text formats.
How do I convert a TCX file to GPX?: Drop it into the TCX to GPX converter here — position, elevation and time come across, laps and heart rate do not, because GPX has no place for them. Or upload the TCX where you were going to upload the GPX; most services read both.
To upload past workouts to Strava, is GPX, TCX or FIT best?: FIT if you have it: everything the device recorded. TCX if the FIT is gone and you want laps and heart rate. GPX if you only need the route. Strava reads all three, and the activity looks the same afterwards.
What opens a TCX file?: Garmin Connect, Strava, Golden Cheetah and most training software by upload; the free GPX viewer here draws it; a text editor shows the XML.

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