diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLease.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLease.java
index f7637592613..13e3381b115 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLease.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLease.java
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.index.seqno;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Writeable;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -32,7 +37,7 @@ import java.util.stream.Collectors;
  * otherwise merge away operations that have been soft deleted). Each retention lease contains a unique identifier, the retaining sequence
  * number, the timestamp of when the lease was created or renewed, and the source of the retention lease (e.g., "ccr").
  */
-public final class RetentionLease {
+public final class RetentionLease implements Writeable {
 
     private final String id;
 
@@ -116,6 +121,33 @@ public final class RetentionLease {
         this.source = source;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Constructs a new retention lease from a stream. The retention lease should have been written via {@link #writeTo(StreamOutput)}.
+     *
+     * @param in the stream to construct the retention lease from
+     * @throws IOException if an I/O exception occurs reading from the stream
+     */
+    public RetentionLease(final StreamInput in) throws IOException {
+        id = in.readString();
+        retainingSequenceNumber = in.readZLong();
+        timestamp = in.readVLong();
+        source = in.readString();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Writes a retention lease to a stream in a manner suitable for later reconstruction via {@link #RetentionLease(StreamInput)}.
+     *
+     * @param out the stream to write the retention lease to
+     * @throws IOException if an I/O exception occurs writing to the stream
+     */
+    @Override
+    public void writeTo(final StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
+        out.writeString(id);
+        out.writeZLong(retainingSequenceNumber);
+        out.writeVLong(timestamp);
+        out.writeString(source);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Encodes a retention lease as a string. This encoding can be decoded by {@link #decodeRetentionLease(String)}. The retention lease is
      * encoded in the format <code>id:{id};retaining_seq_no:{retainingSequenecNumber};timestamp:{timestamp};source:{source}</code>.
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLeaseTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLeaseTests.java
index c4340a381ce..500393f2cfa 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLeaseTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/seqno/RetentionLeaseTests.java
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.index.seqno;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -82,6 +85,20 @@ public class RetentionLeaseTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(e, hasToString(containsString("retention lease source can not be empty")));
     }
 
+    public void testRetentionLeaseSerialization() throws IOException {
+        final String id = randomAlphaOfLength(8);
+        final long retainingSequenceNumber = randomLongBetween(SequenceNumbers.NO_OPS_PERFORMED, Long.MAX_VALUE);
+        final long timestamp = randomNonNegativeLong();
+        final String source = randomAlphaOfLength(8);
+        final RetentionLease retentionLease = new RetentionLease(id, retainingSequenceNumber, timestamp, source);
+        try (BytesStreamOutput out = new BytesStreamOutput()) {
+            retentionLease.writeTo(out);
+            try (StreamInput in = out.bytes().streamInput()) {
+                assertThat(retentionLease, equalTo(new RetentionLease(in)));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testRetentionLeaseEncoding() {
         final String id = randomAlphaOfLength(8);
         final long retainingSequenceNumber = randomNonNegativeLong();