An apparatus for and method of adapting a bitstream to which scalable video coding (SVC) technology is applied are provided. The apparatus for adapting a bitstream includes: an Adaptation QoS information extraction unit extracting SVC adaptation operators, and relationships between the SVC adaptation operators and the usage environment information of a terminal from the Adaptation QoS informationon the bitstream to which SVC technology is applied; an Adaptation Decision Taking Engine(ADTE) unit determining the SVC adaptation operators corresponding to the usage environment of the terminal receiving the transmitted bitstream among the SVC adaptation operators; and a SVC bitstream extraction unit extracting the bitstream based on the determined SVC adaptation operator. According to the apparatus and method, scalable video can be efficiently provided for changing network environments and multimedia usage environments, through adaptation of scalable video streams using an adaptation operator suggested in Classification Scheme (AQoSJDS).