Apparatus and methods are provided for enhanced codec control. In one novel aspect, a method includes receiving a codec control command by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, determining if the recommended codec characteristic will be applied to a codec executing on the UE, and adjusting a characteristic of the codec executing on the UE based on the recommended codec characteristic. The UE is connected with a radio access network (RAN) and the codec control command includes a recommended codec characteristic. In another novel aspect, the recommended codec characteristic is a maximum bitrate. In another embodiment, the recommended codec characteristic is a type of codec. In yet another novel aspect, the recommended codec characteristic is a radio resource allocation command. In another novel aspect, the UE determines all available codec bitrates that can be performed by the UE and communicates the bitrates before receiving the codec control command.