Method and apparatus for improving bandwidth efficiency in a computer network

A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for operating a server operable to transmit files over a computer network, the instructions comprising:

• receiving bandwidth utilization data indicating current bandwidth utilization of a communication link connecting the server to a wide area network;
• receiving requests to transmit files from the server;
• distinguishing between the files based on file types, wherein a type for each of the files is assigned based at least on a corresponding file name for each file such that the type indicates whether the files are configured to be aggregated into a larger file, and wherein the file types comprise a plurality of distinct types;
• and serving the files from the server in response to the requests subject to application of a rule that defines limiting serving of files from the server depending on file type and the current bandwidth utilization, thereby delaying serving of files of at least one file type from the server when the bandwidth utilization exceeds a threshold amount specified by the rule set, and conversely serving the files of at least one file type from the server without delay when the bandwidth utilization does not exceed the threshold amount.