Invoking network-based transcoding in response to threshold low battery power

Methods and systems are provided for conserving battery charge of a wireless communication device (WCD). A radio access network (RAN) and a WCD communicate with data encoded based on one of two codecs. By default, the RAN and the WCD communicate based on a first codec of the two codecs. Communication based on the first codec provides a high-quality audio signal between the RAN and WCD but uses more battery charge. When the battery charge decreases, the WCD can communicate a low-battery indicator to the RAN. Upon receiving the low-battery indicator, the RAN enables a transcoder configured to convert the data encoded based on the first codec into data encoded based on the second codec. After transcoding, RAN and the WCD communicate with based on the second codec. Communication based on the second codec provides a lower-quality audio signal between the RAN and WCD but uses less battery charge.