Transmission networks are beginning to support large volumes of data flows, thereby making congestion in network paths an unavoidable phenomenon requiring remedy by both sources and receivers. This project studied the software-level encoding and network techniques for supporting adaptive video transmissions in distributed multimedia application settings in order to adjust the sending frame rate of video sources to adapt to congestion levels in the network. Underlying this analysis is the layering of video transmissions so that the network and/or end-system elements can send or discard selective layers depending on bandwidth availability in the network. Practical applications for multi-layer video encoder development include all digital imaging industries. Beyond digital imaging, Panasonic Research has expressed interest in this study.