A system is provided to predict requested playbacks of media files by users from a media storage system. The system includes a processor and a computer readable medium operably coupled thereto, to perform predictive playback operations which include accessing an AI model and a media file comprising metadata associated with generating the media file, generating a predictive score for a playback of the media file based on the AI model and the metadata, comparing the predictive score to a threshold required to transcode the media file into a playback format prior to the playback, predicting the playback based on the comparing, determining a predicted playback time of the media file based on the metadata for the media file, and transcoding the media file into the playback format prior to the predicted playback time.