diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 43c85d6..d98f208 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 project('kiwix-tools', 'cpp',
   version : '0.2.0',
-  license : 'GPL')
+  license : 'GPL',
+  default_options: ['c_std=c11', 'cpp_std=c++11'])
 
 compiler = meson.get_compiler('cpp')