Systems and methods are disclosed for multi-tiered registration of file formats for applications. A processor receives a registration request from a developer of an application to register an application with a list of primary formats and a list of secondary formats. The processor associates the list of primary formats and the list of secondary formats with the application, and the processor receives an open request from a user to open a file having a file format. The application is determined to be associated with a primary format corresponding to the file format, and the application is selected to open the file.