A generic client engine can associate a transcoder process with a requested server-side application so that the transcoder process can act as an intermediary between the browser-based application and the server-side application. The transcoder process can be configured to communicate with the browser-based application using a browser-supported protocol. The transcoder process can be further configured to transcode between the browser-supported protocol and a protocol employed by the server-side application. In cases where a gateway service provides access to the server-side application, the transcoder process can also act as an intermediary between the browser-based application and the gateway service to transcode between the browser-supported protocol and a gateway protocol. In some cases, the transcoder process, and possibly the gateway service, can alternatively be located on the client device that hosts the browser-based application.