Various embodiments of the invention disclosed herein provide techniques for frame-accurate navigation of a media file. A multi-pass encoding application executing on a media content server encodes a set of file-based images associated with a media file using a first set of encoding parameters to generate a first encoded media file. The multi-pass encoding application encodes the first encoded media file using a second set of encoding parameters to generate a second encoded media file. The first encoded media file and second encoded media file are stored on the media content server and/or or other media content servers. Content delivery applications executing on these media content servers receive a request associated with the media file from a web browsing application, determine a type of the web browsing application, and transmit either the first encoded media file or the second encoded media file based on the type of web browsing application.