diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 85a744c7b..700a271db 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -200,6 +200,9 @@ if(BUILD_TESTING)
   include(cmake/podioTest.cmake)
   add_subdirectory(tests)
 endif()
+
+find_package(fmt REQUIRED)
+
 add_subdirectory(tools)
 add_subdirectory(python)
 
diff --git a/include/podio/utilities/MiscHelpers.h b/include/podio/utilities/MiscHelpers.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9d4eac4cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/podio/utilities/MiscHelpers.h
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#ifndef PODIO_UTILITIES_MISCHELPERS_H
+#define PODIO_UTILITIES_MISCHELPERS_H
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+namespace podio::utils {
+
+/**
+ * Sort the input vector of strings alphabetically, case insensitive.
+ */
+inline std::vector<std::string> sortAlphabeticaly(std::vector<std::string> strings) {
+  // Obviously there is no tolower(std::string) in c++, so this is slightly more
+  // involved and we make use of the fact that lexicographical_compare works on
+  // ranges and the fact that we can feed it a dedicated comparison function,
+  // where we convert the strings to lower case char-by-char. The alternative is
+  // to make string copies inside the first lambda, transform them to lowercase
+  // and then use operator< of std::string, which would be effectively
+  // hand-writing what is happening below.
+  std::sort(strings.begin(), strings.end(), [](const auto& lhs, const auto& rhs) {
+    return std::lexicographical_compare(
+        lhs.begin(), lhs.end(), rhs.begin(), rhs.end(),
+        [](const auto& cl, const auto& cr) { return std::tolower(cl) < std::tolower(cr); });
+  });
+  return strings;
+}
+} // namespace podio::utils
+
+#endif // PODIO_UTILITIES_MISCHELPERS_H
diff --git a/src/RNTupleWriter.cc b/src/RNTupleWriter.cc
index 73c5db22d..78e79b84c 100644
--- a/src/RNTupleWriter.cc
+++ b/src/RNTupleWriter.cc
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ void RNTupleWriter::writeFrame(const podio::Frame& frame, const std::string& cat
   const bool new_category = (catInfo.writer == nullptr);
   if (new_category) {
     // This is the minimal information that we need for now
-    catInfo.names = root_utils::sortAlphabeticaly(collsToWrite);
+    catInfo.names = podio::utils::sortAlphabeticaly(collsToWrite);
   }
 
   std::vector<root_utils::StoreCollection> collections;
diff --git a/src/ROOTWriter.cc b/src/ROOTWriter.cc
index 21e2998db..c4a3bc30f 100644
--- a/src/ROOTWriter.cc
+++ b/src/ROOTWriter.cc
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ void ROOTWriter::writeFrame(const podio::Frame& frame, const std::string& catego
   // been initialized
   if (catInfo.tree == nullptr) {
     catInfo.idTable = frame.getCollectionIDTableForWrite();
-    catInfo.collsToWrite = root_utils::sortAlphabeticaly(collsToWrite);
+    catInfo.collsToWrite = podio::utils::sortAlphabeticaly(collsToWrite);
     catInfo.tree = new TTree(category.c_str(), (category + " data tree").c_str());
     catInfo.tree->SetDirectory(m_file.get());
   }
diff --git a/src/rootUtils.h b/src/rootUtils.h
index 007e4e202..60c35f372 100644
--- a/src/rootUtils.h
+++ b/src/rootUtils.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define PODIO_ROOT_UTILS_H // NOLINT(llvm-header-guard): internal headers confuse clang-tidy
 
 #include "podio/CollectionIDTable.h"
+#include "podio/utilities/MiscHelpers.h"
 #include "podio/utilities/RootHelpers.h"
 
 #include "TBranch.h"
@@ -279,25 +280,6 @@ inline auto reconstructCollectionInfo(TTree* eventTree, podio::CollectionIDTable
   return collInfo;
 }
 
-/**
- * Sort the input vector of strings alphabetically, case insensitive.
- */
-inline std::vector<std::string> sortAlphabeticaly(std::vector<std::string> strings) {
-  // Obviously there is no tolower(std::string) in c++, so this is slightly more
-  // involved and we make use of the fact that lexicographical_compare works on
-  // ranges and the fact that we can feed it a dedicated comparison function,
-  // where we convert the strings to lower case char-by-char. The alternative is
-  // to make string copies inside the first lambda, transform them to lowercase
-  // and then use operator< of std::string, which would be effectively
-  // hand-writing what is happening below.
-  std::sort(strings.begin(), strings.end(), [](const auto& lhs, const auto& rhs) {
-    return std::lexicographical_compare(
-        lhs.begin(), lhs.end(), rhs.begin(), rhs.end(),
-        [](const auto& cl, const auto& cr) { return std::tolower(cl) < std::tolower(cr); });
-  });
-  return strings;
-}
-
 /**
  * Check whether existingColls and candidateColls both contain the same
  * collection names. Returns false if the two vectors differ in content. Inputs
diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index cbacb59a2..4ea23f8d2 100644
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+add_executable(podio-dump-cpp src/podio-dump.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(podio-dump-cpp PRIVATE podio::podio podio::podioIO fmt::fmt)
+
+
 install(PROGRAMS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/podio-dump DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
 install(PROGRAMS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/podio-vis DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
 if(ENABLE_RNTUPLE)
diff --git a/tools/src/argparseUtils.h b/tools/src/argparseUtils.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7e133012c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/src/argparseUtils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#ifndef PODIO_TOOLS_ARGPARSEUTILS_H
+#define PODIO_TOOLS_ARGPARSEUTILS_H
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+template <typename... Flags>
+auto findFlags(const std::vector<std::string>& argv, Flags... flags) {
+  return std::find_if(argv.begin(), argv.end(), [&](const auto& elem) { return ((elem == flags) || ...); });
+}
+
+inline std::vector<std::string> splitString(const std::string& str, const char delimiter) {
+  std::vector<std::string> tokens;
+  std::string token;
+  for (char ch : str) {
+    if (ch == delimiter) {
+      if (!token.empty()) {
+        tokens.push_back(token);
+        token.clear();
+      }
+    } else {
+      token += ch;
+    }
+  }
+  if (!token.empty()) {
+    tokens.push_back(token);
+  }
+  return tokens;
+}
+
+inline size_t parseSizeOrExit(const std::string& str) {
+  const auto parseError = [&str]() {
+    std::cerr << "'" << str << "' cannot be parsed into an integer number" << std::endl;
+    std::exit(1);
+  };
+
+  try {
+    std::size_t pos{};
+    auto number = std::stoll(str, &pos);
+    if (pos != str.size()) {
+      throw std::invalid_argument("");
+    }
+    return number;
+  } catch (const std::invalid_argument& err) {
+    parseError();
+  }
+
+  return -1;
+}
+
+#endif // PODIO_TOOLS_ARGPARSEUTILS_H
diff --git a/tools/src/podio-dump.cpp b/tools/src/podio-dump.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9220eb717
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/src/podio-dump.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,239 @@
+#include "argparseUtils.h"
+#include "tabulate.h"
+
+#include "podio/Frame.h"
+#include "podio/Reader.h"
+#include "podio/podioVersion.h"
+#include "podio/utilities/MiscHelpers.h"
+
+#include <fmt/core.h>
+#include <fmt/ostream.h>
+#include <fmt/ranges.h>
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <iterator>
+#include <numeric>
+#include <string>
+#include <tuple>
+
+template <>
+struct fmt::formatter<podio::version::Version> : ostream_formatter {};
+
+struct ParsedArgs {
+  std::string inputFile{};
+  std::string category{"events"};
+  std::vector<size_t> events = std::vector<size_t>(1, 0);
+  bool detailed{false};
+};
+
+constexpr auto usageMsg = R"(usage: podio-dump [-h] [-c CATEGORY] [-e ENTRIES] [-d] [--version] inputfile)";
+
+constexpr auto helpMsg = R"(
+Dump contents of a podio file to stdout
+
+positional arguments:
+  inputfile             Name of the file to dump content from
+
+options:
+  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
+  -c CATEGORY, --category CATEGORY
+                        Which Frame category to dump
+  -e ENTRIES, --entries ENTRIES
+                        Which entries to print. A single number, comma separated list of numbers or "first:last" for an inclusive range of entries. Defaults to the first entry.
+  -d, --detailed        Dump the full contents not just the collection info
+  --version             show program's version number and exit
+)";
+
+void printUsageAndExit() {
+  fmt::print(stderr, "{}\n", usageMsg);
+  std::exit(1);
+}
+
+auto getArgumentValueOrExit(const std::vector<std::string>& argv, std::vector<std::string>::const_iterator it) {
+  const int argc = argv.size();
+  const auto index = std::distance(argv.begin(), it);
+  if (index > argc - 2) {
+    printUsageAndExit();
+  }
+  return argv[index + 1];
+}
+
+std::vector<size_t> parseEventRange(const std::string& evtRange) {
+  const auto splitRange = splitString(evtRange, ',');
+  const auto parseError = [&evtRange]() {
+    fmt::print(stderr, "'{}' canot be parsed into a list of entries\n", evtRange);
+    std::exit(1);
+  };
+
+  if (splitRange.size() == 1) {
+    const auto colonSplitRange = splitString(evtRange, ':');
+    if (colonSplitRange.size() == 1) {
+      return {parseSizeOrExit(splitRange[0])};
+    } else if (colonSplitRange.size() == 2) {
+      // we have two numbers signifying an inclusive range
+      const auto start = parseSizeOrExit(colonSplitRange[0]);
+      const auto end = parseSizeOrExit(colonSplitRange[1]);
+      std::vector<size_t> events(end - start + 1);
+      std::iota(events.begin(), events.end(), start);
+      return events;
+    } else {
+      parseError();
+    }
+  } else {
+    std::vector<size_t> events;
+    events.reserve(splitRange.size());
+    std::transform(splitRange.begin(), splitRange.end(), std::back_inserter(events),
+                   [](const auto& elem) { return parseSizeOrExit(elem); });
+
+    return events;
+  }
+
+  parseError();
+  return {};
+}
+
+ParsedArgs parseArgs(std::vector<std::string> argv) {
+  // find help or version
+  if (const auto it = findFlags(argv, "-h", "--help", "--version"); it != argv.end()) {
+    if (*it == "--version") {
+      fmt::print("podio {}\n", podio::version::build_version);
+    } else {
+      fmt::print("{}\n{}", usageMsg, helpMsg);
+    }
+    std::exit(0);
+  }
+
+  ParsedArgs args;
+  // detailed flag
+  if (const auto it = findFlags(argv, "-d", "--detailed"); it != argv.end()) {
+    args.detailed = true;
+    argv.erase(it);
+  }
+  // category
+  if (const auto it = findFlags(argv, "-c", "--category"); it != argv.end()) {
+    args.category = getArgumentValueOrExit(argv, it);
+    argv.erase(it, it + 2);
+  }
+  // event range
+  if (const auto it = findFlags(argv, "-e", "--events"); it != argv.end()) {
+    args.events = parseEventRange(*(it + 1));
+    argv.erase(it, it + 2);
+  }
+
+  if (argv.size() != 1) {
+    printUsageAndExit();
+  }
+  args.inputFile = argv[0];
+
+  return args;
+}
+
+template <typename T>
+std::string getTypeString() {
+  if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, int>) {
+    return "int";
+  } else if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, float>) {
+    return "float";
+  } else if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, double>) {
+    return "double";
+  } else if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, std::string>) {
+    return "std::string";
+  }
+
+  return "unknown";
+}
+
+template <typename T>
+void getParameterOverview(const podio::Frame& frame, std::vector<std::tuple<std::string, std::string, size_t>>& rows) {
+  const auto typeString = getTypeString<T>();
+  for (const auto& parKey : podio::utils::sortAlphabeticaly(frame.getParameterKeys<T>())) {
+    rows.emplace_back(parKey, typeString, frame.getParameter<std::vector<T>>(parKey)->size());
+  }
+}
+
+void printFrameOverview(const podio::Frame& frame) {
+  fmt::print("Collections:\n");
+  const auto collNames = frame.getAvailableCollections();
+
+  std::vector<std::tuple<std::string, std::string_view, size_t, std::string>> rows;
+  rows.reserve(collNames.size());
+
+  for (const auto& name : podio::utils::sortAlphabeticaly(collNames)) {
+    const auto coll = frame.get(name);
+    rows.emplace_back(name, coll->getValueTypeName(), coll->size(), fmt::format("{:0>8x}", coll->getID()));
+  }
+  printTable(rows, {"Name", "ValueType", "Size", "ID"});
+
+  fmt::print("\nParameters:\n");
+  std::vector<std::tuple<std::string, std::string, size_t>> paramRows{};
+  getParameterOverview<int>(frame, paramRows);
+  getParameterOverview<float>(frame, paramRows);
+  getParameterOverview<double>(frame, paramRows);
+  getParameterOverview<std::string>(frame, paramRows);
+
+  printTable(paramRows, {"Name", "Type", "Elements"});
+}
+
+template <typename... Args>
+void print_flush(fmt::format_string<Args...> fmtstr, Args&&... args) {
+  fmt::print(fmtstr, std::forward<Args>(args)...);
+  std::fflush(stdout);
+}
+
+void printFrameDetailed(const podio::Frame& frame) {
+  fmt::print("Collections:\n");
+  const auto collNames = frame.getAvailableCollections();
+  for (const auto& name : podio::utils::sortAlphabeticaly(collNames)) {
+    const auto coll = frame.get(name);
+    print_flush("{}\n", name);
+    coll->print();
+    print_flush("\n");
+  }
+
+  print_flush("\nParameters\n:");
+  frame.getParameters().print();
+  print_flush("\n");
+}
+
+void printGeneralInfo(const podio::Reader& reader, const std::string& filename) {
+  fmt::print("input file: {}\n", filename);
+  fmt::print("datamodel model definitions stored in this file: {}\n\n", reader.getAvailableDatamodels());
+
+  std::vector<std::tuple<std::string, size_t>> rows{};
+  for (const auto& cat : reader.getAvailableCategories()) {
+    rows.emplace_back(cat, reader.getEntries(std::string(cat)));
+  }
+  fmt::print("Frame categories in this file:\nName\tEntries\n");
+  printTable(rows, {"Name", "Entries"});
+}
+
+void printFrame(const podio::Frame& frame, const std::string& category, size_t iEntry, bool detailed) {
+  fmt::print("{:#^82}\n", fmt::format(" {}: {} ", category, iEntry));
+  if (detailed) {
+    printFrameDetailed(frame);
+  } else {
+    printFrameOverview(frame);
+  }
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
+  // We strip the executable name off directly for parsing
+  const auto args = parseArgs({argv + 1, argv + argc});
+
+  auto reader = podio::makeReader(args.inputFile);
+
+  printGeneralInfo(reader, args.inputFile);
+
+  for (const auto event : args.events) {
+    try {
+      const auto& frame = reader.readFrame(args.category, event);
+      printFrame(frame, args.category, event, args.detailed);
+    } catch (std::runtime_error& err) {
+      fmt::print(stderr, "{}\n", err.what());
+      return 1;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/tools/src/tabulate.h b/tools/src/tabulate.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8de76e7dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/src/tabulate.h
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#include <fmt/core.h>
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <iterator>
+#include <string>
+#include <tuple>
+#include <vector>
+
+template <typename... Types>
+void printTable(const std::vector<std::tuple<Types...>>& rows, const std::vector<std::string>& headers) {
+  // Simply assume that all rows have the same widths
+  const auto nCols = headers.size();
+  constexpr auto nColsFromRows = std::tuple_size_v<std::tuple<Types...>>;
+  if (nCols != nColsFromRows) {
+    throw std::invalid_argument("headers and rows have to have the same number of columns");
+  }
+
+  // Transform all elements into strings first to determine column widths
+  std::vector<std::vector<std::string>> stringRows;
+  stringRows.reserve(rows.size());
+  std::transform(rows.begin(), rows.end(), std::back_inserter(stringRows), [&nCols](const auto& elem) {
+    std::vector<std::string> strs;
+    strs.reserve(nCols);
+    std::apply([&strs](auto&&... args) { (strs.emplace_back(fmt::format("{}", args)), ...); }, elem);
+    return strs;
+  });
+
+  // First figure out how large each column has to be to fit all the content
+  std::vector<size_t> colWidths(nCols, 0);
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < nCols; ++i) {
+    colWidths[i] = headers[i].size();
+  }
+  for (const auto& row : stringRows) {
+    for (size_t iCol = 0; iCol < nCols; ++iCol) {
+      colWidths[iCol] = std::max(row[iCol].size(), colWidths[iCol]);
+    }
+  }
+
+  // print the table header
+  for (size_t iCol = 0; iCol < nCols; ++iCol) {
+    fmt::print("{:<{}}  ", headers[iCol], colWidths[iCol]);
+  }
+  fmt::print("\n");
+  std::cout << '\n';
+  for (size_t iCol = 0; iCol < nCols; ++iCol) {
+    fmt::print("{:->{}}  ", "", colWidths[iCol]);
+  }
+  fmt::print("\n");
+
+  // and the contents
+  for (const auto& row : stringRows) {
+    for (size_t iCol = 0; iCol < nCols; ++iCol) {
+      fmt::print("{:<{}}  ", row[iCol], colWidths[iCol]);
+    }
+    fmt::print("\n");
+  }
+}