Method and apparatus for dynamically changing streaming video quality are described herein. In one embodiment, a network traffic condition of a network and a local processing bandwidth of a client are periodically determined. A data compression method and/or compression rate is dynamically selected that is most appropriate to transmit a video frame to the client over the network in view of the determined network traffic condition and the local processing bandwidth of the client. The video frame is then compressed using the selected compression method and/or compression rate and sent over to a client to be rendered at the client.