A system and method are disclosed for providing client-side protection of broadcast or multicast multimedia content for non-real-time playback. A set-top box function receives a request to record multimedia content and determines whether recording of the multimedia content is restricted. Upon receiving the multimedia content, the set-top box decrypts the multimedia content for real-time playback. If recording of the multimedia content is restricted, the set-top box re-encrypts the multimedia content and generates a packaged file including the re-encrypted multimedia content and one or more of a content identifier, a set-top identifier, a network reference to a copyright policy server, and a record policy of the multimedia content. The packaged file is either stored locally or transferred to remote storage. A remote system having access to the packaged file obtains the packaged file and enforces a copyright policy of the multimedia content before releasing the multimedia content for non-real-time playback.