GPX, FIT or TCX: which file to use for your route?
When exporting an activity, your app will sometimes offer several formats: GPX, FIT, TCX. Don't panic — to create a relief, all three work: the Epic Trace configurator reads them directly, including the "original export" ZIP file from Garmin Connect.
Here is what each one contains, so you can make an informed choice.
GPX: the universal track
GPX is the standard format for GPS tracks. It contains the essentials: the coordinates of your route, point by point, usually with altitude and timestamps.
It is an open format, readable by just about everything: apps, mapping sites, and of course the Epic Trace configurator. When you have a choice, take this one.
FIT: Garmin's training format
FIT is a compact format created by Garmin. It contains the track, but also and above all sensor data: heart rate, power, cadence, temperatures...
Valuable for analyzing a workout, unnecessarily rich for drawing a route on terrain. No conversion is necessary: import the FIT file as is (or the ZIP in which Garmin Connect delivers it), and the configurator extracts the track and ignores the rest.
TCX: the session-oriented ancestor
TCX is an older Garmin format designed for structured sessions: laps, heart rate, calories. It can contain the track, and in that case, the configurator also reads it directly.
In summary
- GPX: the track, nothing but the track. The most universal format.
- FIT: the track + sensors. Accepted as is, including Garmin ZIPs.
- TCX: the training session. Also accepted, if it contains the track.
Our step-by-step export guides: Strava, Garmin Connect, Komoot, and Coros, Suunto, Polar, Wahoo and Apple Watch.
And once you have the right file in hand?
Import it into the configurator: your track is placed on real terrain, you frame it, you view your creation in 3D, and we manufacture the piece in France on its oak base. The entire process is described on the 3D relief GPX track page.