diff --git a/pkg/imagefilter/formatter.go b/pkg/imagefilter/formatter.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..775612f9bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/imagefilter/formatter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+package imagefilter
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+)
+
+// OutputFormat contains the valid output formats for formatting results
+type OutputFormat string
+
+const (
+	OutputFormatDefault OutputFormat = ""
+	OutputFormatText    OutputFormat = "text"
+	OutputFormatJSON    OutputFormat = "json"
+)
+
+// ResultFormatter will format the given result list to the given io.Writer
+type ResultsFormatter interface {
+	Output(io.Writer, []Result) error
+}
+
+// NewResultFormatter will create a formatter based on the given format.
+func NewResultsFormatter(format OutputFormat) (ResultsFormatter, error) {
+	switch format {
+	case OutputFormatDefault, OutputFormatText:
+		return &textResultsFormatter{}, nil
+	case OutputFormatJSON:
+		return &jsonResultsFormatter{}, nil
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported formatter %q", format)
+	}
+}
+
+type textResultsFormatter struct{}
+
+func (*textResultsFormatter) Output(w io.Writer, all []Result) error {
+	var errs []error
+
+	for _, res := range all {
+		// this should be copy/paste friendly
+		if _, err := fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s arch:%s type:%s\n", res.Distro.Name(), res.Arch.Name(), res.ImgType.Name()); err != nil {
+			errs = append(errs, err)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(errs) > 0 {
+		return errors.Join(errs...)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+type jsonResultsFormatter struct{}
+
+type distroResultJSON struct {
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+}
+
+type archResultJSON struct {
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+}
+
+type imgTypeResultJSON struct {
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+}
+
+type filteredResultJSON struct {
+	Distro  distroResultJSON  `json:"distro"`
+	Arch    archResultJSON    `json:"arch"`
+	ImgType imgTypeResultJSON `json:"image_type"`
+}
+
+func (*jsonResultsFormatter) Output(w io.Writer, all []Result) error {
+	var out []filteredResultJSON
+
+	for _, res := range all {
+		out = append(out, filteredResultJSON{
+			Distro: distroResultJSON{
+				Name: res.Distro.Name(),
+			},
+			Arch: archResultJSON{
+				Name: res.Arch.Name(),
+			},
+			ImgType: imgTypeResultJSON{
+				Name: res.ImgType.Name(),
+			},
+		})
+	}
+
+	enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
+	return enc.Encode(out)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/imagefilter/formatter_test.go b/pkg/imagefilter/formatter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..78f43e6c72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/imagefilter/formatter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+package imagefilter_test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/distrofactory"
+	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/imagefilter"
+)
+
+func TestResultsFormatter(t *testing.T) {
+	fac := distrofactory.NewTestDefault()
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		formatter             string
+		distro, arch, imgType string
+		expectsOutput         string
+	}{
+		{
+			"",
+			"test-distro-1", "test_arch3", "qcow2",
+			`test-distro-1 arch:test_arch3 type:qcow2` + "\n",
+		},
+		{
+			"text",
+			"test-distro-1", "test_arch3", "qcow2",
+			`test-distro-1 arch:test_arch3 type:qcow2` + "\n",
+		},
+		{
+			"json",
+			"test-distro-1", "test_arch3", "qcow2",
+			`[{"distro":{"name":"test-distro-1"},"arch":{"name":"test_arch3"},"image_type":{"name":"qcow2"}}]` + "\n",
+		},
+	} {
+		// XXX: it would be nice if TestDistro would support constructing
+		// like GetDistro("rhel-8.1:i386,amd64:ami,qcow2") instead of
+		// the current very static setup
+		di := fac.GetDistro(tc.distro)
+		require.NotNil(t, di)
+		ar, err := di.GetArch(tc.arch)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		im, err := ar.GetImageType(tc.imgType)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		res := []imagefilter.Result{
+			{Distro: di, Arch: ar, ImgType: im},
+		}
+		fmter, err := imagefilter.NewResultsFormatter(imagefilter.OutputFormat(tc.formatter))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		err = fmter.Output(&buf, res)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, tc.expectsOutput, buf.String(), tc)
+	}
+}