A multimedia distribution device includes a nonvolatile memory that stores a compressed media signal in which at least two scenes are selectively compressed using different codecs from a codec library, the codecs being automatically selected to produce a highest compression quality for the respective scenes according to a set of criteria without exceeding a target data rate. The nonvolatile memory also stores a plurality of codec indicators specifying which codecs from the codec library were used to respectively compress each scene within the compressed media signal.