Abstract: Described is a system and method for dynamically changing a resolution level at a frame level based on runtime pre-encoding analysis of content in a video stream. A video encoder continuously analyzes the content during runtime, and collects statistics and/or characteristics of the content before encoding it. This classifies the frame among pre-defined categories of content, where every category has its own bitrate/resolution relation. The runtime encoding resolution is dynamically dependent on the target bitrate and the collected statistics and/or characteristics of the content. This achieves a high quality encode for sequences that are composed of scenes with various content complexity levels for different frames in the video streams.