An approach for cached content identification for adaptive data streaming. A first request is received, requesting a current segment from a sequence of segments from a data file of a streaming data session. A NewVideoFlag is determined as indicating that the sequence of segments associated with the first request is not currently being cached. The first request is forwarded to a content server, and a first response message is received. A SegmentID of the received content segment is determined as not matching that of cached content segments. The NewVideoFlag is set to indicate that the segments from the streaming data session file are currently being cached. A global cVideoFileID is generated identifying the streaming session data file being cached. The content segment is cached, and cache bookkeeping is updated to associate the segment with the SegmentID and the cVideoFileID. The first response message is provided to the client device.