diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a48a5eea25..fc9fb140f3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ dependencies = [
     'typing_extensions==4.9.*',
     'donfig==0.8.*',
     'obstore==0.5.*',
+    'jsonschema==4.24.*",
     # test deps
     'zarr[test]',
     'zarr[remote_tests]',
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/extensions.py b/src/zarr/core/extensions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bee25679ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/zarr/core/extensions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import json
+import functools
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
+import urllib3
+
+import jsonschema
+
+def _is_url(url: str) -> bool:
+    """Checks whether the input string is a valid URL.
+
+    Args:
+        url (str): The string to check.
+
+    Returns:
+        bool: True if the input string is a valid URL, False otherwise.
+    """
+    try:
+        result = urlparse(url)
+        return all([result.scheme, result.netloc])
+    except ValueError:
+        return False
+
+
+@functools.lru_cache()
+def _fetch_remote_schema(input_path: str):
+    if _is_url(input_path):
+        resp = urllib3.request("GET", input_path)
+        data = resp.json()
+    else:
+        with open(input_path) as f:
+            data = json.load(f)
+    return data
+
+
+def validate_extension(extension_data: dict, schema_ref: str) -> str:
+    """Validates the extension against the remote JSON schema, returning the top-level
+    key to where the schema is stored in the node."""
+    schema = _fetch_remote_schema(schema_ref)
+    jsonschema.validate(extension_data, schema)
+    return schema['required'][0]
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/group.py b/src/zarr/core/group.py
index bad710ed43..42921daef0 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/group.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/group.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
     parse_shapelike,
 )
 from zarr.core.config import config
+from zarr.core.extensions import validate_extension
 from zarr.core.metadata import ArrayV2Metadata, ArrayV3Metadata
 from zarr.core.sync import SyncMixin, sync
 from zarr.errors import ContainsArrayError, ContainsGroupError, MetadataValidationError
@@ -329,6 +330,11 @@ class GroupMetadata(Metadata):
     zarr_format: ZarrFormat = 3
     consolidated_metadata: ConsolidatedMetadata | None = None
     node_type: Literal["group"] = field(default="group", init=False)
+    extension_schemas: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
+
+    # A logical abstraction to hold all extensions referenced by the group.
+    # Extensions are physically stored under top-level keys of the group.
+    extensions: dict[str, dict[str, Any]] = field(default_factory=dict)
 
     def to_buffer_dict(self, prototype: BufferPrototype) -> dict[str, Buffer]:
         json_indent = config.get("json_indent")
@@ -383,6 +389,8 @@ def __init__(
         attributes: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
         zarr_format: ZarrFormat = 3,
         consolidated_metadata: ConsolidatedMetadata | None = None,
+        extension_schemas: list[str] | None = None,
+        extensions: dict[str, dict[str, Any]] | None = None
     ) -> None:
         attributes_parsed = parse_attributes(attributes)
         zarr_format_parsed = parse_zarr_format(zarr_format)
@@ -390,6 +398,8 @@ def __init__(
         object.__setattr__(self, "attributes", attributes_parsed)
         object.__setattr__(self, "zarr_format", zarr_format_parsed)
         object.__setattr__(self, "consolidated_metadata", consolidated_metadata)
+        object.__setattr__(self, "extension_schemas", extension_schemas)
+        object.__setattr__(self, "extensions", extensions)
 
     @classmethod
     def from_dict(cls, data: dict[str, Any]) -> GroupMetadata:
@@ -407,12 +417,23 @@ def from_dict(cls, data: dict[str, Any]) -> GroupMetadata:
             expected = {x.name for x in fields(cls)}
             data = {k: v for k, v in data.items() if k in expected}
 
-        return cls(**data)
+        # Parse extensions
+        extensions = {}
+        for schema_ref in data.get("extension_schemas", []):
+            schema_key = validate_extension(data, schema_ref)
+            extension_data = data.pop(schema_key)
+            extensions.update({schema_key: extension_data})
+
+        return cls(**data, extensions=extensions)
 
     def to_dict(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         result = asdict(replace(self, consolidated_metadata=None))
         if self.consolidated_metadata:
             result["consolidated_metadata"] = self.consolidated_metadata.to_dict()
+
+        for (name, extension) in result.pop('extensions').items():
+            result[name] = extension
+
         return result