A method, system and architecture for operating a content distribution overlay network in conjunction with a peer-to-peer network is provided. The method includes receiving a request for content at a content node from a requesting node of the peer-to-peer network. Then, referring to an overlay network to identify the content node as a head node of the overlay network. The head node has capabilities to transcode the content. The method then identifies a lowest level child node of the head node that has capabilities to transcode the content for the requesting node. The lowest level child node is then assigned to transcode the content for presentation to the requesting node, and each parent in the overlay network is assigned to transcode the content for its child. The lowest level child node receives the content transcoded from its parent in a format of the lowest level child node, and the overlay network is independent of the peer-to-peer network. In accordance with the method, nodes of the overlay network are arranged according to capability, and the head node has a highest capability of the overlay network.