diff --git a/http-core/src/main/mima-filters/1.2.x.backwards.excludes/content-media-type-value-string.backwards.excludes b/http-core/src/main/mima-filters/1.2.x.backwards.excludes/content-media-type-value-string.backwards.excludes
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1ef1b48c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http-core/src/main/mima-filters/1.2.x.backwards.excludes/content-media-type-value-string.backwards.excludes
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+ProblemFilters.exclude[ReversedMissingMethodProblem]("org.apache.pekko.http.javadsl.model.ContentType.value")
+ProblemFilters.exclude[ReversedMissingMethodProblem]("org.apache.pekko.http.javadsl.model.MediaType.value")
diff --git a/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/ContentType.scala b/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/ContentType.scala
index 5ee185858..2e7ccafc3 100644
--- a/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/ContentType.scala
+++ b/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/ContentType.scala
@@ -61,4 +61,10 @@ trait ContentType {
    * Returns the charset if this ContentType is non-binary.
    */
   def getCharsetOption: Optional[HttpCharset]
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the string representation of this ContentType
+   * @since 1.2.0
+   */
+  def value: String
 }
diff --git a/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/MediaType.scala b/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/MediaType.scala
index 89cd99dd1..f92ff83d5 100644
--- a/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/MediaType.scala
+++ b/http-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/http/javadsl/model/MediaType.scala
@@ -110,4 +110,10 @@ trait MediaType {
    * Creates a media-range from this media-type with a given qValue.
    */
   def toRange(qValue: Float): MediaRange
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the string representation of this MediaType
+   * @since 1.2.0
+   */
+  def value: String
 }