We propose a dynamically reconfigurable DCT architecture system that can be used to optimize performance objectives while meeting real-time constraints on power, image quality, and bitrate. The proposed system can be dynamically reconfigured between 4 different modes: (i) minimum power mode, (ii) minimum bitrate mode, (iii) maximum image quality mode, and (iv) typical mode. The proposed system relies on the use of efficient DCT implementations that are parameterized by the word-length of the DCT transform coefficients and the use of different quantization quality factors. Optimal DCT architectures and quality factors are pre-computed on a training dataset. The proposed system is validated on the LIVE database using leave-one-out. From the results, it is clear that real-time constraints can be successfully met for the majority of the test images while optimizing for the 4 modes of operation.