A method comprising: receiving a first portion of content comprising an encoding parameter, wherein the encoding parameter indicates a level of encoding complexity of the first portion of the content; assigning, based on the level of encoding complexity of the first portion of the content satisfying a threshold, a first bitrate to the first portion of the content, or assigning, based on the level of encoding complexity of the first portion of the content not satisfying the threshold, a second bitrate to the first portion of the content, wherein the second bitrate is lower than the first bitrate, wherein the level of encoding complexity for a respective portion of the content satisfies the threshold when the respective portion of the content is associated with a complex scene, wherein the level of encoding complexity for the respective portion of the content does not satisfy the threshold when the respective portion of the content is associated with a non-complex scene; receiving a second portion of the content comprising scene-level metadata, wherein the scene-level metadata indicates whether a scene associated with the second portion of the content is complex or non-complex based on attributes associated with the second portion of the content, wherein the attributes include one or more of: an advertisement, a scene transition, an audio level, a pixel illumination, and closed captioning information associated with the second portion of the content; assigning, based on the scene-level metadata indicating that the second portion of the content is associated with a complex scene, the first bitrate to the second portion of the content, or assigning, based on the scene-level metadata indicating that the second portion of the content is associated with a non-complex scene, the second bitrate to the second portion of the content; and sending the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content at the respectively assigned bitrate. receiving a first portion of content comprising an encoding parameter, wherein the encoding parameter indicates a level of encoding complexity of the first portion of the content; assigning, based on the level of encoding complexity of the first portion of the content satisfying a threshold, a first bitrate to the first portion of the content, or assigning, based on the level of encoding complexity of the first portion of the content not satisfying the threshold, a second bitrate to the first portion of the content, wherein the second bitrate is lower than the first bitrate, wherein the level of encoding complexity for a respective portion of the content satisfies the threshold when the respective portion of the content is associated with a complex scene, wherein the level of encoding complexity for the respective portion of the content does not satisfy the threshold when the respective portion of the content is associated with a non-complex scene; receiving a second portion of the content comprising scene-level metadata, wherein the scene-level metadata indicates whether a scene associated with the second portion of the content is complex or non-complex based on attributes associated with the second portion of the content, wherein the attributes include one or more of: an advertisement, a scene transition, an audio level, a pixel illumination, and closed captioning information associated with the second portion of the content; assigning, based on the scene-level metadata indicating that the second portion of the content is associated with a complex scene, the first bitrate to the second portion of the content, or assigning, based on the scene-level metadata indicating that the second portion of the content is associated with a non-complex scene, the second bitrate to the second portion of the content; and sending the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content at the respectively assigned bitrate.