diff --git a/syft/format/decoder.go b/syft/format/decoder.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..149e36400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/format/decoder.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package format
+
+import (
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/distro"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
+)
+
+type Decoder func(reader io.Reader) (*pkg.Catalog, *source.Metadata, *distro.Distro, error)
diff --git a/syft/format/encoder.go b/syft/format/encoder.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..46e1d3b75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/format/encoder.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package format
+
+import (
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/distro"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
+)
+
+// TODO: this should probably be a helper function to return the bytes
+//func using() {
+//	var buff bytes.Buffer
+//	var encoder Encoder // = ...
+//
+//	_:=encoder(&buff, nil, nil, nil)
+//
+//	bytes.NewReader(buff.Bytes())
+//
+//}
+
+type Encoder func(io.Writer, *pkg.Catalog, *source.Metadata, *distro.Distro) error
diff --git a/syft/format/format.go b/syft/format/format.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6bb12bf11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/format/format.go
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+package format
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"errors"
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/distro"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
+)
+
+var (
+	ErrEncodingNotSupported = errors.New("encoding not supported")
+	ErrDecodingNotSupported = errors.New("decoding not supported")
+)
+
+type Format struct {
+	Option    Option
+	encoder   Encoder
+	decoder   Decoder
+	validator Validator
+}
+
+func NewFormat(option Option, encoder Encoder, decoder Decoder, validator Validator) Format {
+	return Format{
+		Option:    option,
+		encoder:   encoder,
+		decoder:   decoder,
+		validator: validator,
+	}
+}
+
+func (f Format) Encode(output io.Writer, catalog *pkg.Catalog, d *distro.Distro, metadata *source.Metadata) error {
+	if f.encoder == nil {
+		return ErrEncodingNotSupported
+	}
+	return f.encoder(output, catalog, metadata, d)
+}
+
+func (f Format) Decode(reader io.Reader) (*pkg.Catalog, *source.Metadata, *distro.Distro, error) {
+	if f.decoder == nil {
+		return nil, nil, nil, ErrDecodingNotSupported
+	}
+	return f.decoder(reader)
+}
+
+func (f Format) Detect(b []byte) bool {
+	if f.validator == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	if err := f.validator(bytes.NewReader(b)); err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+func (f Format) Presenter(catalog *pkg.Catalog, metadata *source.Metadata, d *distro.Distro) *Presenter {
+	if f.encoder == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return NewPresenter(f.encoder, catalog, metadata, d)
+}
diff --git a/syft/format/option.go b/syft/format/option.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..805656c11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/format/option.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package format
+
+import "strings"
+
+const (
+	UnknownOption      Option = "UnknownFormatOption"
+	JSONOption         Option = "json"
+	TextOption         Option = "text"
+	TableOption        Option = "table"
+	CycloneDxOption    Option = "cyclonedx"
+	SPDXTagValueOption Option = "spdx-tag-value"
+	SPDXJSONOption     Option = "spdx-json"
+)
+
+var AllOptions = []Option{
+	JSONOption,
+	TextOption,
+	TableOption,
+	CycloneDxOption,
+	SPDXTagValueOption,
+	SPDXJSONOption,
+}
+
+type Option string
+
+func ParseOption(userStr string) Option {
+	switch strings.ToLower(userStr) {
+	case string(JSONOption), "syft-json":
+		return JSONOption
+	case string(TextOption):
+		return TextOption
+	case string(TableOption):
+		return TableOption
+	case string(CycloneDxOption), "cyclone", "cyclone-dx":
+		return CycloneDxOption
+	case string(SPDXTagValueOption), "spdx", "spdx-tagvalue", "spdxtagvalue", "spdx-tv", "spdxtv":
+		return SPDXTagValueOption
+	case string(SPDXJSONOption), "spdxjson":
+		return SPDXJSONOption
+	default:
+		return UnknownOption
+	}
+}
diff --git a/syft/format/presenter.go b/syft/format/presenter.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3915f3cb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/format/presenter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package format
+
+import (
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/distro"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
+)
+
+type Presenter struct {
+	catalog     *pkg.Catalog
+	srcMetadata *source.Metadata
+	distro      *distro.Distro
+	encoder     Encoder
+}
+
+func NewPresenter(encoder Encoder, catalog *pkg.Catalog, srcMetadata *source.Metadata, d *distro.Distro) *Presenter {
+	return &Presenter{
+		catalog:     catalog,
+		srcMetadata: srcMetadata,
+		distro:      d,
+		encoder:     encoder,
+	}
+}
+
+func (pres *Presenter) Present(output io.Writer) error {
+	return pres.encoder(output, pres.catalog, pres.srcMetadata, pres.distro)
+}
diff --git a/syft/format/validator.go b/syft/format/validator.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59269e271
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/format/validator.go
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package format
+
+import "io"
+
+type Validator func(reader io.Reader) error