Extract text from Glider flight logs (IGC)
To convert IGC Flight logs to another format, you need SeeYou or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "GPS Flight Track Data" file type, you need software like SeeYou or a similar tool.
The .igc file format is a standard ASCII text-based flight log mandated by the 3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale">FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) International Gliding Commission. These files are generated by specialized GNSS flight recorders (like those from Flarm) during glider, paraglider, and sailplane flights. They store time-stamped 3D track logs, including GPS coordinates, barometric altitude, engine noise levels, and digital security signatures (G-records) to prevent tampering during competitions. Typical software to visualize these flights includes SeeYou or open-source flight analysis tools.
While standard in the gliding community, .igc files are highly specialized. Their main disadvantage is that general-purpose mapping software, like Google Earth or standard GPS devices, cannot read them natively. The embedded security signatures and custom header data often confuse basic text editors or generic GPS parsers. Furthermore, desktop flight analysis software often requires expensive licenses or complex installations just to view a single flight track.
To share a flight with non-pilots or view it on standard maps, you need to convert .igc to universal spatial formats like KML (for Google Earth) or GPX (for standard GPS devices and fitness apps like Strava). Be aware that converting to GPX or KML will discard the cryptographic security signatures and specialized competition metrics, keeping only the raw trajectory and altitude data.
Because the .igc specification includes strict formatting and proprietary extensions from different logger manufacturers, it can be frustrating to process. Standard online converters often fail to parse the specific headers.
Convert.Guru analyzes your IGC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted GPX, ICG, KML, IGN, ZIP, TXT, JPG, CSV, KMZ, SKF, XML, AUP3 and PDF files.
If you want to convert IGC file to GPX, KML, KMZ, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG or CONF, you can use SeeYou or similar software from the "Glider Flight Data Logging" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to IGC, try SeeYou or another comparable tool in the "Glider Flight Data Logging" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our IGC converter.