An apparatus for encoding video information, comprising: a buffer unit configured to store encoded video information; a hardware processor configured to: determine a buffer fullness of the buffer unit, the buffer fullness being indicative of a ratio between a number of bits currently occupied in the buffer unit and a current capacity of the buffer unit; determine an initial maximum quantization parameter, QP, value maxQp; adjust the initial maximum QP value based on a bit depth of the video information, bitDepth, according to the equation maxQp = maxQp + ((bitDepth - bd) << a) to obtain a first adjusted maximum QP value, where parameter a may be modified by a rate controller and parameter bd is a default bit depth value; adjust the first adjusted maximum QP value based on one or more picture parameters to obtain a second adjusted maximum QP value, the one or more picture parameters comprising a compressed bitrate of the video information to be coded; determine an adjustment value based at least in part upon the determined buffer fullness of the buffer unit; adjust the second adjusted maximum QP value using the determined adjustment value to obtain a third adjusted maximum QP value, wherein the third adjusted maximum QP value specifies a maximum QP value that may be used to encode the current block of the video information; encode the current block of video information based on a QP value to form a video data bitstream for display or transmission, in accordance with a restriction that the QP value may not exceed the third adjusted maximum QP value. a buffer unit configured to store encoded video information; a hardware processor configured to: determine a buffer fullness of the buffer unit, the buffer fullness being indicative of a ratio between a number of bits currently occupied in the buffer unit and a current capacity of the buffer unit; determine an initial maximum quantization parameter, QP, value maxQp; adjust the initial maximum QP value based on a bit depth of the video information, bitDepth, according to the equation maxQp = maxQp + ((bitDepth - bd) << a) to obtain a first adjusted maximum QP value, where parameter a may be modified by a rate controller and parameter bd is a default bit depth value; adjust the first adjusted maximum QP value based on one or more picture parameters to obtain a second adjusted maximum QP value, the one or more picture parameters comprising a compressed bitrate of the video information to be coded; determine an adjustment value based at least in part upon the determined buffer fullness of the buffer unit; adjust the second adjusted maximum QP value using the determined adjustment value to obtain a third adjusted maximum QP value, wherein the third adjusted maximum QP value specifies a maximum QP value that may be used to encode the current block of the video information; encode the current block of video information based on a QP value to form a video data bitstream for display or transmission, in accordance with a restriction that the QP value may not exceed the third adjusted maximum QP value. determine a buffer fullness of the buffer unit, the buffer fullness being indicative of a ratio between a number of bits currently occupied in the buffer unit and a current capacity of the buffer unit; determine an initial maximum quantization parameter, QP, value maxQp; adjust the initial maximum QP value based on a bit depth of the video information, bitDepth, according to the equation maxQp = maxQp + ((bitDepth - bd) << a) to obtain a first adjusted maximum QP value, where parameter a may be modified by a rate controller and parameter bd is a default bit depth value; adjust the first adjusted maximum QP value based on one or more picture parameters to obtain a second adjusted maximum QP value, the one or more picture parameters comprising a compressed bitrate of the video information to be coded; determine an adjustment value based at least in part upon the determined buffer fullness of the buffer unit; adjust the second adjusted maximum QP value using the determined adjustment value to obtain a third adjusted maximum QP value, wherein the third adjusted maximum QP value specifies a maximum QP value that may be used to encode the current block of the video information; encode the current block of video information based on a QP value to form a video data bitstream for display or transmission, in accordance with a restriction that the QP value may not exceed the third adjusted maximum QP value.