diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
index 52ba67bcde583..9139cbac2b0be 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.index.mapper.MapperService;
 import org.opensearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers;
 import org.opensearch.index.shard.ShardId;
+import org.opensearch.indices.replication.common.ReplicationType;
 import org.opensearch.rest.RestStatus;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -260,13 +261,14 @@ public Iterator<Setting<?>> settings() {
         Property.IndexScope
     );
 
-    public static final String SETTING_SEGMENT_REPLICATION = "index.replication.segment_replication";
     /**
-     * Used to specify if the index should use segment replication. If false, document replication is used.
+     * Used to specify the replication type for the index. By default, document replication is used.
      */
-    public static final Setting<Boolean> INDEX_SEGMENT_REPLICATION_SETTING = Setting.boolSetting(
-        SETTING_SEGMENT_REPLICATION,
-        false,
+    public static final String SETTING_REPLICATION_TYPE = "index.replication.type";
+    public static final Setting<ReplicationType> INDEX_REPLICATION_TYPE_SETTING = new Setting<>(
+        SETTING_REPLICATION_TYPE,
+        ReplicationType.DOCUMENT.toString(),
+        ReplicationType::parseString,
         Property.IndexScope,
         Property.Final
     );
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java
index f2337cbf1ca11..68e1b5b598d40 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java
@@ -214,8 +214,8 @@ public final class IndexScopedSettings extends AbstractScopedSettings {
      * setting should be moved to {@link #BUILT_IN_INDEX_SETTINGS}.
      */
     public static final Map<String, Setting> FEATURE_FLAGGED_INDEX_SETTINGS = Map.of(
-        FeatureFlags.SEGREP_FEATURE_FLAG,
-        IndexMetadata.INDEX_SEGMENT_REPLICATION_SETTING
+        FeatureFlags.REPLICATION_TYPE,
+        IndexMetadata.INDEX_REPLICATION_TYPE_SETTING
     );
 
     public static final IndexScopedSettings DEFAULT_SCOPED_SETTINGS = new IndexScopedSettings(Settings.EMPTY, BUILT_IN_INDEX_SETTINGS);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/util/FeatureFlags.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/util/FeatureFlags.java
index 830acc5400ea9..34c613f5423d0 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/util/FeatureFlags.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/common/util/FeatureFlags.java
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@
 public class FeatureFlags {
 
     /**
-     * Gates the visibility of the index setting that enables segment replication.
+     * Gates the visibility of the index setting that allows changing of replication type.
      * Once the feature is ready for production release, this feature flag can be removed.
      */
-    public static final String SEGREP_FEATURE_FLAG = "opensearch.segment_replication_feature_flag_enabled";
+    public static final String REPLICATION_TYPE = "opensearch.experimental.feature.replication_type.enabled";
 
     /**
      * Used to test feature flags whose values are expected to be booleans.
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/IndexSettings.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/IndexSettings.java
index 2834620ab85ff..d93310fa794b7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/IndexSettings.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/IndexSettings.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.opensearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.opensearch.index.translog.Translog;
+import org.opensearch.indices.replication.common.ReplicationType;
 import org.opensearch.ingest.IngestService;
 import org.opensearch.node.Node;
 
@@ -682,7 +683,9 @@ public IndexSettings(final IndexMetadata indexMetadata, final Settings nodeSetti
         nodeName = Node.NODE_NAME_SETTING.get(settings);
         this.indexMetadata = indexMetadata;
         numberOfShards = settings.getAsInt(IndexMetadata.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, null);
-        isSegRepEnabled = settings.getAsBoolean(IndexMetadata.SETTING_SEGMENT_REPLICATION, false);
+
+        ReplicationType replicationType = ReplicationType.parseString(settings.get(IndexMetadata.SETTING_REPLICATION_TYPE));
+        isSegRepEnabled = ReplicationType.SEGMENT.equals(replicationType);
 
         this.searchThrottled = INDEX_SEARCH_THROTTLED.get(settings);
         this.queryStringLenient = QUERY_STRING_LENIENT_SETTING.get(settings);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/indices/replication/common/ReplicationType.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/indices/replication/common/ReplicationType.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d2363682eadef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/indices/replication/common/ReplicationType.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ *
+ * The OpenSearch Contributors require contributions made to
+ * this file be licensed under the Apache-2.0 license or a
+ * compatible open source license.
+ */
+
+package org.opensearch.indices.replication.common;
+
+public enum ReplicationType {
+
+    DOCUMENT("document"),
+
+    SEGMENT("segment");
+
+    private final String value;
+
+    ReplicationType(String replicationType) {
+        this.value = replicationType;
+    }
+
+    public static ReplicationType parseString(String replicationType) {
+        try {
+            return ReplicationType.valueOf(replicationType);
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Could not parse ReplicationStrategy for [" + replicationType + "]");
+        } catch (NullPointerException npe) {
+            // return a default value for null input
+            return DOCUMENT;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return value;
+    }
+}