A method of encoding an input video stream comprising a video component and an audio component is disclosed. The input video stream is split into a plurality of segments, each comprising a plurality of frames. Each of the segments is encoded as a low bit rate layer, a high bit rate layer, and one or more intermediate bit rate layers. The bit rate of the low bit rate layer is selected such that a network streaming the segment will always be able to stream the segment encoded as the low bit rate layer. The bit rate of the high bit rate layer is selected such that the segment is able to be decoded and played back at or above a quality threshold. The bit rates of the intermediate bit rate layers are produced by applying a bit rate factor to another bit rate.