A method of decoding digital media, comprising: receiving compressed digital image data, the compressed digital image data having been partitioned along more than one dimension; determining quantization parameters from syntax elements in the compressed digital image data, the compressed digital image data having been quantized across more than one partitioned dimension of the digital image data, the syntax elements indicating at a frame or tile level whether quantization parameters to be used during dequantization vary within a frequency band dimension, including at least three frequency sub bands, and the syntax elements further indicating whether quantization parameters to be used during dequantization vary within a color channel dimension, including luminance and chrominance channels, wherein the at least three sub bands include a DC sub band, a low-pass sub band, and a high-pass sub band, wherein coefficients of the high-pass sub band are AC coefficients from first transforms of values of blocks of a macroblock, coefficients of the low-pass sub band are coefficients from a second transform of DC coefficients from the first transforms, and coefficients of the DC sub band are DC coefficients from the second transform of the DC coefficients form the first transforms, wherein the compressed digital image data includes a set of quantization parameter index, QPI, vectors for the low-pass sub band, a set of QPI vectors for the high-pass sub band and one QPI vector for the DC sub band for each frame or tile, each QPI vector being composed of one QPI value, if the syntax elements indicate that the luminance and chrominance channels have a same quantization rule, and otherwise being composed of more than one QPI value, each QPI value corresponding to a value of a quantization parameter, wherein the multiple sets of QPI vectors are defined for the at least three frequency sub bands depending on whether the syntax elements indicate that a respective low-pass sub band uses a same quantization rule as a respective DC sub band at a same spatial location or a respective high-pass sub band uses a same quantization rule as the respective low-pass sub band at the same spatial location, wherein an index of a desired QPI vector from within a set of QPI vectors is sent at macroblock level; dequantizing the compressed digital image data in accordance with the determined quantization parameters; applying an inverse of a block transform to blocks of the dequantized digital image data; and outputting decompressed digital image data. receiving compressed digital image data, the compressed digital image data having been partitioned along more than one dimension; determining quantization parameters from syntax elements in the compressed digital image data, the compressed digital image data having been quantized across more than one partitioned dimension of the digital image data, the syntax elements indicating at a frame or tile level whether quantization parameters to be used during dequantization vary within a frequency band dimension, including at least three frequency sub bands, and the syntax elements further indicating whether quantization parameters to be used during dequantization vary within a color channel dimension, including luminance and chrominance channels, wherein the at least three sub bands include a DC sub band, a low-pass sub band, and a high-pass sub band, wherein coefficients of the high-pass sub band are AC coefficients from first transforms of values of blocks of a macroblock, coefficients of the low-pass sub band are coefficients from a second transform of DC coefficients from the first transforms, and coefficients of the DC sub band are DC coefficients from the second transform of the DC coefficients form the first transforms, wherein the compressed digital image data includes a set of quantization parameter index, QPI, vectors for the low-pass sub band, a set of QPI vectors for the high-pass sub band and one QPI vector for the DC sub band for each frame or tile, each QPI vector being composed of one QPI value, if the syntax elements indicate that the luminance and chrominance channels have a same quantization rule, and otherwise being composed of more than one QPI value, each QPI value corresponding to a value of a quantization parameter, wherein the multiple sets of QPI vectors are defined for the at least three frequency sub bands depending on whether the syntax elements indicate that a respective low-pass sub band uses a same quantization rule as a respective DC sub band at a same spatial location or a respective high-pass sub band uses a same quantization rule as the respective low-pass sub band at the same spatial location, wherein an index of a desired QPI vector from within a set of QPI vectors is sent at macroblock level; dequantizing the compressed digital image data in accordance with the determined quantization parameters; applying an inverse of a block transform to blocks of the dequantized digital image data; and outputting decompressed digital image data.