A system, method and computer program product for improving video codec performance, including a pre-processing stage configured for downscaling by a variable amount an uncompressed video signal before sending such downscaled, uncompressed video signal to an input of a video codec; and a complimentary post-processing stage configured for upscaling the decompressed video signal received from an output of the video codec back to its original resolution before transmitting the decompressed video signal. The system, method and computer program product provides improved rate-distortion performance compared to direct use of the video codec alone.