A client device includes a media player and a client proxy. The client device is to provide a static playlist of segments for a multimedia program to the media player, wherein the static playlist is independent of changes in network performance, and to update a local variant playlist for the multimedia program responsive to changes in network performance. The client proxy further is to convert a first segment request from the media player for a first segment listed in the static playlist to a second segment request for a second segment listed in the local variant playlist, wherein the first segment and the second segment are different encodings of the same multimedia content. The client proxy further is to access the second segment from the media server using the second segment request, and provide the second segment to the media player as the first segment.