A deep learning based compression (DLBC) system generates a progressive representation of the encoded input image such that a client device that requires the encoded input image at a particular target bitrate can readily be transmitted the appropriately encoded data. More specifically, the DLBC system computes a representation that includes channels and bitplanes that are ordered based on importance. For a given target rate, the DLBC system truncates the representation according to a trained zero mask to generate the progressive representation. Transmitting a first portion of the progressive representation enables a client device with the lowest target bitrate to appropriately playback the content. Each subsequent portion of the progressive representation allows the client device to playback the content with improved quality.