The present invention is directed to a method for preparing a transmission schedule that when utilized results in a smooth transmission of a multimedia file and maintains a fixed buffer occupancy at the decoder. According to one embodiment of the invention, a transmission rate is calculated for the transmission of the first frame of the multimedia file that will cause the decoder buffer to be one-half full at the end of the transmission of that frame. This initial transmission rate is stored in the schedule with a time segment starting at zero and ending at the time when the transmission of the first frame is complete. Thereafter, a current time segment is defined starting at the time when the transmission of the first frame is complete and ending when the transmission of the second frame is complete. A transmission rate is calculated for the current time segment that will cause the decoder buffer to be one-half full at the end of the time segment. Next, it is determined whether the transmission rate is feasible for the time segment. If the transmission rate is feasible, then the end time and transmission rate are saved, the time segment is lengthened by increasing the end time, and the method returns to the transmission rate calculation step. If the transmission rate is not feasible, then the current start time, the saved end time, and the saved transmission rate are stored in the transmission rate schedule, and the method returns to the step of determining the current time segment which starts at the stored end time. Finally, when all of the frames have been considered, the current start time, the saved end time and the saved transmission rate are stored in the transmission rate schedule.