Where does a GoPro store its GPS data?

Inside the video file. GoPro's GPMF documentation describes telemetry as a track in the MP4, next to the video, audio and timecode tracks, so there is no separate GPS file to copy. If a tool writes a new video file and does not copy that track, the GPS stays behind.

Does the .LRV file keep the GPS if I lose the .MP4?

Possibly, but do not rely on it. GoPro's documentation treats the LRV as a proxy of the main video with its own metadata, and GoPro's metadata tool opens LRV files. We have not seen GoPro state that the LRV's GPS samples match the MP4's, so keep the MP4 as the master.

Can I trim or cut a GoPro clip without losing the GPS?

Only with a tool that copies every track instead of re-encoding the video. We did not test tools, so we do not name one. Whatever you use, check the result with the track listing above before you delete the original.

Does GoPro Cloud or Quik keep the GPS in the copy it gives back?

We could not find a GoPro page that says, so we do not claim either way. The safe assumption is that any copy you did not take straight from the card might not have it. Check the file instead of trusting the app.

GoPro GPS Data Missing After Export? Why It Happens and the Fix

Q: How can I tell whether a file still has its GPS?

Look at the file's tracks with a tool that lists them, such as ffprobe. GoPro's documentation says a file carrying telemetry has at least four tracks: video, audio, timecode and telemetry. A copy with no telemetry track has lost it, and the only fix is the original on the card.

GoPro stores GPS inside the MP4, so editors, exports and re-encodes can leave it behind. Where the data lives, what drops it, how to check a file, and why the card original is the one to keep.

A GoPro that had a GPS lock records speed and position into the clip. A copy of that clip might not have them. When the overlay software says "no GPS data", one possible cause is that the GPS was left behind on the way from the camera to your editor. This page is about that cause.

It covers where that happens and the one habit that prevents it: keep the original file the camera wrote, and make every other copy from it.

Where the GPS actually lives

GoPro does not write the GPS to a separate log. Its GPMF documentation on GitHub describes telemetry as a track inside the MP4, next to the video and audio tracks. A file carrying telemetry has at least four tracks: video, audio, timecode and telemetry. The telemetry track is the one with a handler named "GoPro MET" and sample type "gpmd", and it holds the sensor streams, GPS included, at their own rates.

So the GPS is not in the picture. It is a passenger in the file. Anything that makes a new file has to bring it along on purpose.

What drops it

Any step that rewrites the video into a new file and does not copy the telemetry track. Three things we can source:

Re-encoding tools that only keep video and audio. The FFmpeg documentation says that, left to its defaults, it picks one video, one audio and one subtitle stream, and that data streams are not automatically selected and can only be included by mapping them yourself. GoPro's telemetry track is that kind of track, so a plain FFmpeg conversion does not carry it over unless you ask it to.

Video editors. In 2020 a customer asked Adobe's community forum how to keep a GoPro HERO8's GPS data in an exported Premiere Pro video. A community expert answered that Premiere cannot pass the data, and an Adobe staff member agreed it was not really possible. That is one editor at one point in time, so check your version, but it is a typical story.

Edited and processed videos in general. A GoPro community FAQ by a third-party telemetry developer, written in 2019, answers the question "do edited or processed videos have metadata?" with "generally, no", noting that GoPro's Fusion Studio retains some. Old, community-written, but consistent with the other two.

What we could not verify

You will see it claimed that the GoPro Cloud, Quik exports and a copy saved through a phone gallery or camera roll drop the GPS. We could not find a GoPro page that says what any of them keep, so this article does not make that claim, and does not deny it either. The rule that always works does not depend on the answer: if a file did not come straight off the card, do not assume it has the GPS. Check it.

How to check a file in one minute

Use any tool that lists the tracks of an MP4, such as ffprobe. A telemetry-carrying GoPro file shows at least four: video, audio, timecode and a data track of type gpmd. A copy with no gpmd track has lost the GPS for good. No setting in your editor will bring it back, because the data is not in the file any more.

If you read telemetry with a GPMF tool, also look at the fix value: 0 is no lock, 2 or 3 is a 2D or 3D lock. A file can have the track and still be empty of position if there was no lock when it was recorded. That is a different problem, covered in how to turn on GoPro GPS and check the lock.

The habit that keeps the GPS

Take the card out and copy the files straight to a folder on your computer with a card reader. Do not go through a phone gallery, an app or a cloud first.
Treat that folder as read-only originals. Do not edit, trim or rename inside it.
Make every edit, share clip and compressed version as a copy, in another folder.
Only format the card once the originals are copied and a second copy exists.

Share copies may lose the data, and that is fine. A clip you post is a clip you post. The original is the one you analyse from.

What about the .LRV file next to each clip?

The camera also writes a small low-resolution file with the .LRV extension next to each clip. GoPro's documentation treats it as a proxy of the main video, and one of the metadata streams it defines exists to keep the LRV in sync with the main video. GoPro's metadata viewer in GoPro Labs opens .LRV files as well as MP4s, and an open-source GPS extractor lists .LRV files in its own example. That makes the .LRV a second place the telemetry may be.

May be. We have not seen GoPro say that the GPS samples in an .LRV are identical to those in the .MP4, so keep both files, treat the MP4 as the master, and test your own LRV before you rely on it.

Why this matters for karting

PURPL analyses MyChron and Alfano data, and the video is the way to see why the numbers say what they say; syncing onboard video with telemetry shows how the two meet. If the clip's own GPS is part of your plan, for an overlay or a track map, protect the original from the first copy. Then check which of your cameras can record it at all in which GoPro has GPS.

Sources

GoPro, GPMF parser documentation on GitHub (telemetry as an MP4 track, the track list, the LRV note, fix values).
FFmpeg, ffmpeg documentation (automatic stream selection: data streams are not selected automatically).
Adobe Community, GoPro HERO8 GPS telemetry in an exported video (June and July 2020).
GoPro support community, GPS not working? Performance stickers and telemetry FAQ (a community post by a third-party developer, October 2019).
GoPro Labs, Metadata Extraction (opens MP4, LRV and 360 files).
majbthrd, gpstelemetry (command-line GPS extractor, example run on .LRV files).