An SDN controller to provision network resources at a data plane to keep progressive downloads of multimedia files proportional to encoding rates is disclosed. Packets from a new or unknown flow being downloaded at a default rate are forwarded from an access point, or other device, to an SDN controller for analysis. If a progressive download of a multimedia file (e.g., a video file) in progress is detected, an encoding rate of frames for the multimedia file is determined. A target download rate for the multimedia file at the access point is determined based on the encoding rate, in an embodiment. Other optional factors also take into account network-wide data plane information gathered by the SDN controller from various points on the network. Additionally, a playback history for a particular multimedia file can affect the target download rate, based on whether, for example, a file is likely to be quickly halted.