Method for arithmetic decoding of a current spectral coefficient of a current frame using preceding spectral coefficients of the current frame and/or a previous frame, said preceding spectral coefficients are already decoded and both, said preceding and current spectral coefficients, are comprised in one or more quantized spectra resulting from quantizing time-frequency-transform of video, audio or speech signal sample values, said method comprises - processing the preceding spectral coefficients, - using the processed preceding spectral coefficients for determining a context class being one of at least two different context classes, - using the determined context class and a mapping from the at least two different context classes to at least two different probability density functions for determining the probability density function, and arithmetic decoding the current spectral coefficient based on the determined probability density function, wherein said processing of the preceding spectral coefficients comprises the steps: - a first quantizing in which the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients are quantized according a first quantization scheme, - determining a variance of the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme, - using the determined variance for selecting one of at least two different non-linear second quantization schemes, and - a second quantizing in which the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme are further quantized according to the selected non-linear second quantization scheme, wherein the step of determining the variance of the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme comprises - determining a sum of the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme and comparing the determined sum with at least one threshold, the method further comprising the steps of - receiving a reset signal and - in response to the reset signal, using only preceding spectral coefficients of the current frame for determining the context class. - processing the preceding spectral coefficients, - using the processed preceding spectral coefficients for determining a context class being one of at least two different context classes, - using the determined context class and a mapping from the at least two different context classes to at least two different probability density functions for determining the probability density function, and - a first quantizing in which the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients are quantized according a first quantization scheme, - determining a variance of the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme, - using the determined variance for selecting one of at least two different non-linear second quantization schemes, and - a second quantizing in which the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme are further quantized according to the selected non-linear second quantization scheme, - determining a sum of the absolute values of the preceding spectral coefficients quantized according the first quantization scheme and comparing the determined sum with at least one threshold, - receiving a reset signal and - in response to the reset signal, using only preceding spectral coefficients of the current frame for determining the context class.