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Reduce GPX Points

Bike computers and GPS watches cap how many points a course can contain, and a ride recorded every second blows straight past that limit. This tool thins out the points that sit almost exactly on the line between their neighbours, so the route keeps its shape while the file gets dramatically smaller. Elevation, timestamps and waypoints are carried over untouched.

Drop your GPX file here

or click to browse

.gpx · up to 50 MB
Nothing is uploaded. Your file is read and rewritten entirely in your browser.

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How it works

1

Drop in your GPX file

Drag a .gpx file onto the tool or click to browse. It is read entirely in your browser and never uploaded.

2

Pick a point budget

Choose a preset for your device (Garmin Edge units cap courses at 10,000 points, older models far less) or type your own target.

3

Check the result

You see the new point count, the resulting file size, and how much the total distance changed. The map shows the simplified route so you can confirm nothing important was lost.

4

Download

Download the smaller GPX and copy it to your device.

Frequently asked questions

Most Garmin Edge units refuse courses above 10,000 track points, and older Edge and Forerunner models cap far lower. A ride recorded at one point per second reaches that in under three hours, so long rides and multi-day tours regularly need thinning before they will load.

The shape is preserved. The tool uses Douglas-Peucker simplification, which only removes a point when it lies within a small tolerance of the straight line between the points either side of it. On a clean track the total distance typically changes by well under a tenth of a percent.

If your track came from a GPS recording rather than a route planner, some of the original distance is GPS noise: tiny zig-zags that inflate the total. Removing those brings the number closer to the distance you actually covered. A large drop means the recording was noisy, not that the route was cut short.

No. Elevation and timestamps are kept for every point that survives, and all waypoints are carried over in full.

You can set any target down to two points. For navigation, a few hundred points is usually plenty on road routes; keep more on twisty trails where the shape matters. The map preview updates immediately so you can see when it starts cutting corners.