In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining a first message from an application associated with a variable bit-rate (VBR) media flow, the first message including information that has at least an approximately minimum bandwidth at which the VBR media flow may operate and an amount by which a bandwidth of the VBR media flow may be trimmed. The method also includes determining an amount of available bandwidth in a network, and identifying the approximately minimum bandwidth at which the VBR media flow may operate and the amount by which the bandwidth of the VBR media flow may be trimmed. Finally, the method includes identifying a bandwidth allocation identified based on the amount of available bandwidth in the network, the approximately minimum bandwidth at which the VBR media flow may operate, and the amount by which the bandwidth of the VBR media flow may be trimmed.