One of the most challenging problems confronting the long term preservation of digital information is how to handle format obsolescence. Several methodologies have been suggested in the literature, which include migration, emulation, and standardization to a few common formats. Clearly, a combination of these methodologies will be in use for the foreseeable future. Given this fact, some form of a community-based registry of digital representation formats and their supporting tools will be critical to managing format obsolescence. In this paper, we present the architecture, design, and testing of a Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR) based on scalable, extensible, and secure web technologies. Our architecture will easily be able to incorporate advances achieved through various methodologies and will easily adapt with emerging technologies as it is based on platform independent technologies.