This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/strava by /u/strava-team on 2025-05-14 15:01:11+00:00.
Hey Strava Community, we’re here today to lift the curtain on what folks around here have termed the “Strava Tax.”
Strava is the record of the world’s activities. Our goal is to record each authentic activity as accurately as possible to stay true to the human effort behind that achievement. Because of that, we show exactly what was recorded, down to the second decimal place.
Many athletes notice slight discrepancies between the data displayed on their fitness trackers and what appears on Strava after uploading an activity—aka the “Strava Tax.” This often leads to the perception that Strava is altering or “taxing” their data. However, that’s not the case.
Your watch might say 10.00 miles. But what it actually recorded and sent to Strava might be 9.993. Since we show the data that was provided to us by the tracker or sensor to the second decimal place, we show 9.99. We don't round up that data or attempt to "correct" it. GPS and other fitness tracking sensors can be erratic, and the data quality can vary. Methodologies for "correcting" those errors vary widely by manufacturer—and even by device. As the hub in the middle of the connected fitness industry, we decided the fairest approach would be to accurately reflect the data sent to us.
You might be asking, “why not change it?” Well, because “rounding up” can have an amplified effect over time. Let’s say you run 9.99 miles 100 times in 2025—if each one showed up as 10.00 miles, you’d think you ran 1,000 miles this year, but your total stats for the year (and your Year In Sport!) would actually be 999 miles.
We will always aim to be fair, neutral, and committed to accurately documenting the human effort behind each achievement. So, the “Strava Tax” might not be going away tomorrow—but we’re continuing to explore better ways to explain it, make it more visible, and help athletes understand what’s really happening behind the scenes. And we’re glad to finally debunk the mystery.
Check out the full deep dive here: https://stories.strava.com/articles/explaining-the-strava-tax