diff --git a/compositor/main.c b/compositor/main.c
index 6f713c3e..86732f9d 100644
--- a/compositor/main.c
+++ b/compositor/main.c
@@ -526,7 +526,9 @@ usage(int error_code)
 		"  --height=HEIGHT\tHeight of memory surface\n"
 		"  --transform=TR\tThe output transformation, TR is one of:\n"
 		"\tnormal 90 180 270 flipped flipped-90 flipped-180 flipped-270\n"
-		"  --use-pixman\t\tUse the pixman (CPU) renderer (default: no rendering)\n\n");
+		"  --use-pixman\t\tUse the pixman (CPU) renderer (default: no rendering)\n"
+		"  --no-outputs\t\tDo not create any virtual outputs\n"
+		"\n");
 #endif
 
 #if defined(BUILD_RDP_COMPOSITOR)
@@ -1037,6 +1039,7 @@ load_headless_backend(struct weston_compositor *c,
 		{ WESTON_OPTION_INTEGER, "height", 0, &config.height },
 		{ WESTON_OPTION_BOOLEAN, "use-pixman", 0, &config.use_pixman },
 		{ WESTON_OPTION_STRING, "transform", 0, &transform },
+		{ WESTON_OPTION_BOOLEAN, "no-outputs", 0, &config.no_outputs },
 	};
 
 	parse_options(options, ARRAY_LENGTH(options), argc, argv);
diff --git a/libweston/compositor-headless.c b/libweston/compositor-headless.c
index b78c3210..6c22ee30 100644
--- a/libweston/compositor-headless.c
+++ b/libweston/compositor-headless.c
@@ -212,8 +212,11 @@ headless_backend_create(struct weston_compositor *compositor,
 	if (b->use_pixman) {
 		pixman_renderer_init(compositor);
 	}
-	if (headless_backend_create_output(b, config) < 0)
-		goto err_input;
+
+	if (!config->no_outputs) {
+		if (headless_backend_create_output(b, config) < 0)
+			goto err_input;
+	}
 
 	if (!b->use_pixman && noop_renderer_init(compositor) < 0)
 		goto err_input;
diff --git a/libweston/compositor-headless.h b/libweston/compositor-headless.h
index 79f39c89..1432f700 100644
--- a/libweston/compositor-headless.h
+++ b/libweston/compositor-headless.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ struct weston_headless_backend_config {
 	int use_pixman;
 
 	uint32_t transform;
+	bool no_outputs;
 };
 
 #ifdef  __cplusplus