Free online KML to GPX converter

A GPS receiver, navigation app, or fitness platform may require GPX when a route is exported from Google Earth as KML. Converting the file makes its waypoints, route, or recorded track usable in software that does not import KML.

What the KML format is

KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is an XML-based geographic format used by Google Earth, Google My Maps, and GIS software. It can store placemarks, paths, polygons, folders, descriptions, styles, map overlays, and coordinates. A .kmz file is a compressed KML package that can also contain images and other resources.

Google Earth commonly creates KML when a user saves a place, draws a path, or exports map data. KML is also used to share annotated locations and GIS layers. Its coordinates are normally ordered as longitude, latitude, optional altitude, unlike the more commonly displayed latitude-longitude order.

What the GPX format is

GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is an XML format for exchanging GPS data. Its standard data types are waypoints for individual locations, routes for planned sequences of points, and tracks for ordered track points that describe a path.

GPS receivers, Garmin BaseCamp, QMapShack, OsmAnd, outdoor-navigation applications, and fitness services support GPX. It is generally more suitable than KML when the destination needs a navigable route or track instead of map styling, camera views, overlays, or polygon rendering. GPX normally uses WGS 84 latitude and longitude coordinates and can store elevation, timestamps, names, and descriptions.

How to convert the file

Convert on 101convert.com

101convert.com can convert the file for free without installing software. Upload the .kml file, choose GPX as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting .gpx file. If the source is .kmz, extract the KML from the archive first when KMZ is not accepted directly.

Do not upload sensitive routes or location records to an online converter. Use desktop software when the file contains private travel, work, or activity data.

Convert with GPSBabel

GPSBabel is a desktop application and command-line utility for converting GPS formats. The command-line form is:

gpsbabel -i kml -f input.kml -o gpx -F output.gpx

Replace input.kml and output.gpx with the actual filenames. In the graphical interface, select KML as the input format, open the source file, select GPX as the output format, choose a destination filename, and run the conversion.

Edit and export with QGIS

QGIS is useful when the KML contains several layers or geometry types that must be filtered or edited first. Open the file with Layer → Add Layer → Add Vector Layer, select the required point or line layer, then use Export → Save Features As…. Choose GPX as the format, select the output path, and configure the exported GPX layer as a waypoint, route, or track when the available driver options provide that choice.

Use a point layer for waypoints and a line layer for paths. A polygon layer has no direct standard GPX equivalent; convert its boundary to a line or export its vertices as points only if that represents the intended data.

Compatibility and quality limits

KML and GPX do not preserve the same information. A conversion can retain coordinates and may retain elevation, timestamps, names, and descriptions, but KML colors, icons, folders, camera views, screen overlays, embedded images, and most styling do not transfer to standard GPX.

A KML line may be exported as either a GPX route or a GPX track. A track contains an ordered series of points and normally follows the source geometry closely. A route is a planned sequence of navigation points that a receiver or app may recalculate over roads, producing a different path. Confirm the required type before transferring the file.

KML altitude can use modes such as ground-relative, clamped to ground, or absolute elevation. GPX stores a numeric elevation at a point, so the conversion may require interpretation or may produce misleading elevation values when the KML altitude mode is not absolute. KML timestamps are also not guaranteed to exist or to map cleanly to GPX track-point times.

Multi-geometry features, unsupported KML network links, and polygons often require manual cleanup. After conversion, open the GPX in the target application and check the start and end points, point order, route or track type, distance, elevation profile, and map position before sending it to a GPS receiver or using it for navigation.