A method includes calculating a complexity value for each segment or version of multimedia content. The multimedia content has multiple versions associated with common content and different encoding parameters, and each version is divided into segments. The method also includes adaptively streaming the multimedia content to a client device based on at least some of the calculated complexity values. The complexity value for each segment or version is calculated by summing multiple operation complexity values defining complexities of operations for decoding the segment or version. The operation complexity values could include values for a bit parsing operation, a buffer initialization operation, an intra-prediction operation, an inverse quantization and transform operation, a reference block fetch operation, a fractional interpolation operation, and in-loop deblocking operation, a sample adaptive offset correction operation, an adaptive loop filtering operation, and a de-ringing filtering operation.