diff --git a/include/libweston/libweston.h b/include/libweston/libweston.h
index a020c4a9..d07d56f8 100644
--- a/include/libweston/libweston.h
+++ b/include/libweston/libweston.h
@@ -169,6 +169,20 @@ enum dpms_enum {
 	WESTON_DPMS_OFF
 };
 
+/* enum for content protection requests/status
+ *
+ * This enum represents the content protection requests and statuses in
+ * libweston and its enum values correspond to those of 'type' enum defined in
+ * weston-content-protection protocol. The values should exactly match to the
+ * values of the 'type' enum of the protocol.
+ */
+
+enum weston_hdcp_protection {
+	WESTON_HDCP_DISABLE = 0,
+	WESTON_HDCP_ENABLE_TYPE_0,
+	WESTON_HDCP_ENABLE_TYPE_1
+};
+
 /** Represents a monitor
  *
  * This object represents a monitor (hardware backends like DRM) or a window
@@ -277,6 +291,8 @@ struct weston_output {
 
 	struct wl_list head_list; /**< List of driven weston_heads */
 
+	enum weston_hdcp_protection desired_protection;
+
 	void (*start_repaint_loop)(struct weston_output *output);
 	int (*repaint)(struct weston_output *output,
 			pixman_region32_t *damage,
diff --git a/libweston/compositor.c b/libweston/compositor.c
index a7cd8751..12b9016b 100644
--- a/libweston/compositor.c
+++ b/libweston/compositor.c
@@ -5873,6 +5873,7 @@ weston_output_init(struct weston_output *output,
 	wl_list_init(&output->link);
 	wl_signal_init(&output->user_destroy_signal);
 	output->enabled = false;
+	output->desired_protection = WESTON_HDCP_DISABLE;
 
 	wl_list_init(&output->head_list);