diff --git a/pkg/sif/descriptor.go b/pkg/sif/descriptor.go
index 86fac669..03ed2b04 100644
--- a/pkg/sif/descriptor.go
+++ b/pkg/sif/descriptor.go
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ type cryptoMessage struct {
 	Messagetype MessageType
 }
 
+// sbom represents the SIF SBOM data object descriptor.
+type sbom struct {
+	Format SBOMFormat
+}
+
 var errNameTooLarge = errors.New("name value too large")
 
 // setName encodes name into the name field of d.
@@ -230,6 +235,22 @@ func (d Descriptor) CryptoMessageMetadata() (FormatType, MessageType, error) {
 	return m.Formattype, m.Messagetype, nil
 }
 
+// SBOMMetadata gets metadata for a SBOM data object.
+func (d Descriptor) SBOMMetadata() (SBOMFormat, error) {
+	if got, want := d.raw.DataType, DataSBOM; got != want {
+		return 0, &unexpectedDataTypeError{got, []DataType{want}}
+	}
+
+	var s sbom
+
+	b := bytes.NewReader(d.raw.Extra[:])
+	if err := binary.Read(b, binary.LittleEndian, &s); err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("%w", err)
+	}
+
+	return s.Format, nil
+}
+
 // GetData returns the data object associated with descriptor d.
 func (d Descriptor) GetData() ([]byte, error) {
 	b := make([]byte, d.raw.Size)
diff --git a/pkg/sif/descriptor_input.go b/pkg/sif/descriptor_input.go
index 1b8dda20..3e81c394 100644
--- a/pkg/sif/descriptor_input.go
+++ b/pkg/sif/descriptor_input.go
@@ -226,6 +226,24 @@ func OptSignatureMetadata(ht crypto.Hash, fp []byte) DescriptorInputOpt {
 	}
 }
 
+// OptSBOMMetadata sets metadata for a SBOM data object. The SBOM format is set to f.
+//
+// If this option is applied to a data object with an incompatible type, an error is returned.
+func OptSBOMMetadata(f SBOMFormat) DescriptorInputOpt {
+	return func(t DataType, opts *descriptorOpts) error {
+		if got, want := t, DataSBOM; got != want {
+			return &unexpectedDataTypeError{got, []DataType{want}}
+		}
+
+		s := sbom{
+			Format: f,
+		}
+
+		opts.extra = s
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
 // DescriptorInput describes a new data object.
 type DescriptorInput struct {
 	dt   DataType
@@ -241,7 +259,7 @@ const DefaultObjectGroup = 1
 //
 // It is possible (and often necessary) to store additional metadata related to certain types of
 // data objects. Consider supplying options such as OptCryptoMessageMetadata, OptPartitionMetadata,
-// and OptSignatureMetadata for this purpose.
+// OptSignatureMetadata, and OptSBOMMetadata for this purpose.
 //
 // By default, the data object will be placed in the default data object group (1). To override
 // this behavior, use OptNoGroup or OptGroupID. To link this data object, use OptLinkedID or
diff --git a/pkg/sif/descriptor_input_test.go b/pkg/sif/descriptor_input_test.go
index 84312311..5c34099e 100644
--- a/pkg/sif/descriptor_input_test.go
+++ b/pkg/sif/descriptor_input_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2021, Sylabs Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) 2021-2022, Sylabs Inc. All rights reserved.
 // This software is licensed under a 3-clause BSD license. Please consult the
 // LICENSE file distributed with the sources of this project regarding your
 // rights to use or distribute this software.
@@ -163,6 +163,21 @@ func TestNewDescriptorInput(t *testing.T) {
 				OptSignatureMetadata(crypto.SHA256, fp),
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "OptSBOMMetadataUnexpectedDataType",
+			t:    DataGeneric,
+			opts: []DescriptorInputOpt{
+				OptSBOMMetadata(SBOMFormatCycloneDXJSON),
+			},
+			wantErr: &unexpectedDataTypeError{DataGeneric, []DataType{DataSBOM}},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "OptSBOMMetadata",
+			t:    DataSBOM,
+			opts: []DescriptorInputOpt{
+				OptSBOMMetadata(SBOMFormatCycloneDXJSON),
+			},
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		tt := tt
diff --git a/pkg/sif/descriptor_test.go b/pkg/sif/descriptor_test.go
index 470d91ab..5febda36 100644
--- a/pkg/sif/descriptor_test.go
+++ b/pkg/sif/descriptor_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2018-2021, Sylabs Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) 2018-2022, Sylabs Inc. All rights reserved.
 // This software is licensed under a 3-clause BSD license. Please consult the
 // LICENSE file distributed with the sources of this project regarding your
 // rights to use or distribute this software.
@@ -287,6 +287,56 @@ func TestDescriptor_CryptoMessageMetadata(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDescriptor_SBOMMetadata(t *testing.T) {
+	m := sbom{
+		Format: SBOMFormatCycloneDXJSON,
+	}
+
+	rd := rawDescriptor{
+		DataType: DataSBOM,
+	}
+	if err := rd.setExtra(m); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name       string
+		rd         rawDescriptor
+		wantFormat SBOMFormat
+		wantErr    error
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "UnexpectedDataType",
+			rd: rawDescriptor{
+				DataType: DataGeneric,
+			},
+			wantErr: &unexpectedDataTypeError{DataGeneric, []DataType{DataSBOM}},
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "OK",
+			rd:         rd,
+			wantFormat: SBOMFormatCycloneDXJSON,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			d := Descriptor{raw: tt.rd}
+
+			f, err := d.SBOMMetadata()
+
+			if got, want := err, tt.wantErr; !errors.Is(got, want) {
+				t.Fatalf("got error %v, want %v", got, want)
+			}
+
+			if err == nil {
+				if got, want := f, tt.wantFormat; got != want {
+					t.Fatalf("got format %v, want %v", got, want)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestDescriptor_GetIntegrityReader(t *testing.T) {
 	rd := rawDescriptor{
 		DataType:   DataDeffile,
diff --git a/pkg/sif/sif.go b/pkg/sif/sif.go
index e0faaedb..2d1c2091 100644
--- a/pkg/sif/sif.go
+++ b/pkg/sif/sif.go
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ const (
 	DataGenericJSON                            // generic JSON meta-data
 	DataGeneric                                // generic / raw data
 	DataCryptoMessage                          // cryptographic message data object
+	DataSBOM                                   // software bill of materials
 )
 
 // String returns a human-readable representation of t.
@@ -153,6 +154,8 @@ func (t DataType) String() string {
 		return "Generic/Raw"
 	case DataCryptoMessage:
 		return "Cryptographic Message"
+	case DataSBOM:
+		return "SBOM"
 	}
 	return "Unknown"
 }
@@ -267,6 +270,44 @@ func (t MessageType) String() string {
 	return "Unknown"
 }
 
+// SBOMFormat represents the format used to store an SBOM object.
+type SBOMFormat int32
+
+// List of supported SBOM formats.
+const (
+	SBOMFormatCycloneDXJSON SBOMFormat = iota + 1 // CycloneDX (JSON)
+	SBOMFormatCycloneDXXML                        // CycloneDX (XML)
+	SBOMFormatGitHubJSON                          // GitHub dependency snapshot (JSON)
+	SBOMFormatSPDXJSON                            // SPDX (JSON)
+	SBOMFormatSPDXRDF                             // SPDX (RDF/xml)
+	SBOMFormatSPDXTagValue                        // SPDX (tag/value)
+	SBOMFormatSPDXYAML                            // SPDX (YAML)
+	SBOMFormatSyftJSON                            // Syft (JSON)
+)
+
+// String returns a human-readable representation of f.
+func (f SBOMFormat) String() string {
+	switch f {
+	case SBOMFormatCycloneDXJSON:
+		return "cyclonedx-json"
+	case SBOMFormatCycloneDXXML:
+		return "cyclonedx-xml"
+	case SBOMFormatGitHubJSON:
+		return "github-json"
+	case SBOMFormatSPDXJSON:
+		return "spdx-json"
+	case SBOMFormatSPDXRDF:
+		return "spdx-rdf"
+	case SBOMFormatSPDXTagValue:
+		return "spdx-tag-value"
+	case SBOMFormatSPDXYAML:
+		return "spdx-yaml"
+	case SBOMFormatSyftJSON:
+		return "syft-json"
+	}
+	return "unknown"
+}
+
 // header describes a loaded SIF file.
 type header struct {
 	LaunchScript [hdrLaunchLen]byte
diff --git a/pkg/sif/testdata/TestNewDescriptorInput/OptSBOMMetadata.golden b/pkg/sif/testdata/TestNewDescriptorInput/OptSBOMMetadata.golden
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02516b13
Binary files /dev/null and b/pkg/sif/testdata/TestNewDescriptorInput/OptSBOMMetadata.golden differ