Systems, apparatuses, and methods for implementing real-time, low-latency packetization protocols for live compressed video data are disclosed. A wireless transmitter includes at least a codec and a media access control (MAC) layer unit. In order for the codec to communicate with the MAC layer unit, the codec encodes the compression ratio in a header embedded inside the encoded video stream. The MAC layer unit extracts the compression ratio from the header and determines a modulation coding scheme (MCS) for transferring the video stream based on the compression ratio. The MAC layer unit and the codec also implement a feedback loop such that the MAC layer unit can command the codec to adjust the compression ratio. Since the changes to the video might not be implemented immediately, the MAC layer unit relies on the header to determine when the video data is coming in with the requested compression ratio.