Garmin PCX5 (.wpt)
PCX5 is Garmin's old text waypoint-exchange format, from the DOS-era PC software kit of the same name. If you have .wpt files that came off a Garmin in the 1990s, this is probably the format.
At a glance
| Extension | .wpt |
| Encoding | text |
| By | Garmin |
| Current version | Legacy — superseded by MapSource and later by GPX |
History
PCX5 was part of Garmin's "PCX5 / PCX5AVD / PC150 PC Software Kit", the utility that moved waypoints, routes and tracks between a PC and a Garmin receiver before MapSource existed. Garmin later replaced it with MapSource, and the industry replaced both with GPX.
Where it is used
These files survive in old archives and on long-running download sites, and MapSource will still open them — it looks for the .wpt extension specifically. Beyond the Garmin world, conversion tools are the practical route in.
Structure
PCX5 is plain text holding waypoints and tracks. It carries the constraints of its era: waypoint names are limited to the six characters NMEA allowed, so longer names are truncated on the way in, and the file records a software version number that the original PCX5 utility was famously strict about — a mismatch would make it refuse the file, though the number can simply be edited in a text editor.
How widespread
Purely legacy. Nothing writes PCX5 today; the reason to support it is that a lot of early GPS work was saved in it and the six-character names are all that is left of those waypoints.
RouteConverter support
| Reads | Garmin PCX5 |
| Writes | Garmin PCX5 |
RouteConverter handles PCX5 through the bundled GPSBabel rather than with its own parser, so gpsbabel must be present — the installer ships it.