How to add a telemetry overlay to a GoPro video
A complete walkthrough: drop in your GoPro MP4, let GaugeReel auto-read the embedded GPMF telemetry, sync and design animated speed, GPS and g-force gauges, then export a transparent overlay you composite over your clip in any editor.
What you need
One desktop app and a GoPro clip that carries telemetry. GaugeReel is a free download for Windows and macOS.
For embedded telemetry you need a GoPro HERO 5 Black or newer, which writes GPS, speed, altitude, accelerometer and gyro into the MP4 as GPMF — the same applies to DJI cameras and drones that write GPMF. Shooting on an older HERO 1–4, a GPS-less HERO, or a 360 camera? Pair a GPX or Garmin FIT track from a watch, bike computer or phone and GaugeReel syncs it to your footage by timestamp. Either way, your original clip is never edited or re-encoded.
Add telemetry to a GoPro video in six steps
From the raw MP4 to a finished, composited clip — the exact path GaugeReel is built around.
Import your GoPro MP4
Drop the clip straight off the camera into GaugeReel and it auto-scans the embedded GPMF telemetry — GPS position, speed, altitude, 3-axis accelerometer and gyro — with no separate extractor app or spreadsheet.
- Reads GPMF in the MP4
- GPS · speed · altitude
- Accel & gyro streams
- No extractor app
Sync the gauges to the footage
GaugeReel auto-aligns the telemetry to the video on the embedded timestamps, then you fine-tune with a manual offset and stretch until every gauge hits the exact moment it happens on screen.
- Timestamp auto-sync
- Manual offset & stretch
- Sync-to anchors
- Per-source alignment
Pick a gauge layout
Choose an activity profile — Runner, Cyclist or Car / Moto — so a ready-made instrument cluster lands on the canvas, or start blank and add gauges from the searchable catalogue.
- Activity profiles
- Speed · GPS · g-force
- Searchable catalogue
- Save your own layout
Customize the gauges
Open the inspector and edit each gauge in depth — the data field and units, decimals and smoothing, fonts, colors, gradients, bars and backplate — until the overlay matches your edit.
- Field & units
- Decimals & smoothing
- Fonts, colors, gradients
- Per-gauge control
Export a transparent overlay
Render only the gauges as a layer with a real alpha channel — a PNG image sequence, ProRes 4444 / VP9 with alpha, or a chroma-key MP4 — so nothing but the instruments is drawn.
- PNG sequence alpha
- ProRes 4444 / VP9
- Chroma-key MP4
- GPU hardware encode
Composite it over your clip
Drop the exported layer onto a track above your GoPro footage in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut, After Effects or CapCut and the gauges sit cleanly over the action — your original clip is never re-encoded.
- Premiere · DaVinci
- Final Cut · After Effects
- CapCut
- Footage untouched
Gauges only — your GoPro clip stays untouched
GaugeReel never re-encodes your footage. It renders just the instruments to a layer with a real alpha channel, so when you drop it onto a track above your GoPro clip the gauges sit cleanly over the action. That is the broadcast-style approach pro editors use — and it keeps every pixel of your original video intact.
Want the full rundown on GoPro models, supported streams and compositing? See the GoPro telemetry overlay overview.
GoPro telemetry questions, answered
The specifics of getting telemetry off your GoPro and onto your footage.
Drop your GoPro MP4 into GaugeReel and it auto-scans the embedded GPMF telemetry — GPS speed, altitude, accelerometer and gyro. Pick a gauge layout, sync it to the footage, then export a transparent overlay you drop over the clip in any editor. The same works for DJI GPMF clips.
Another question? hello@gaugereel.net
Put telemetry on your GoPro footage.
Free to download. No account required to export your first GoPro overlay.