An apparatus for decoding video data comprising one or more processors configured to: receive a bitstream indicating how a coding tree unit was partitioned into coding units according to a partitioning structure that allows root nodes to be partitioned with symmetric binary partitioning and with asymmetric ternary partitioning, wherein a root node is recursively partitionable using said asymmetric ternary partitioning and/or said symmetric binary partitioning; parse said bitstream to determine how the coding tree unit was partitioned using quadtree partitioning, said symmetric binary partitioning, and/or said asymmetric ternary partitioning; parse said bitstream to determine a symmetry of said partitioning, to determine if at least one of said asymmetric ternary partitioning and/or said symmetric binary partitioning was used to partition a parent coding unit into child nodes, wherein said symmetric binary partitioning splits a parent node of said parent coding unit into child nodes of equal size, and asymmetric ternary partitioning splits a parent node either in a horizontal partitioning or in a vertical partitioning, but not a mixed horizontal and vertical partitioning, into three child nodes wherein two of the three child nodes are of equal sizes and wherein a third of the three child nodes is twice the size of each of said two of the three child nodes that are of said equal sizes, where said two of the three child nodes are farther from a center of a respective said parent node with said third of the three child nodes that is partitioned being at said center; identify each of the child nodes within each respective parent coding unit, wherein a node can be recursively partitioned into smaller nodes, wherein both said asymmetric ternary partitioning and/or said symmetric binary partitioning are allowed in the partitioning structure in either order during a recursive partitioning of a root node or parent node; and decode the identified child nodes. receive a bitstream indicating how a coding tree unit was partitioned into coding units according to a partitioning structure that allows root nodes to be partitioned with symmetric binary partitioning and with asymmetric ternary partitioning, wherein a root node is recursively partitionable using said asymmetric ternary partitioning and/or said symmetric binary partitioning; parse said bitstream to determine how the coding tree unit was partitioned using quadtree partitioning, said symmetric binary partitioning, and/or said asymmetric ternary partitioning; parse said bitstream to determine a symmetry of said partitioning, to determine if at least one of said asymmetric ternary partitioning and/or said symmetric binary partitioning was used to partition a parent coding unit into child nodes, wherein said symmetric binary partitioning splits a parent node of said parent coding unit into child nodes of equal size, and asymmetric ternary partitioning splits a parent node either in a horizontal partitioning or in a vertical partitioning, but not a mixed horizontal and vertical partitioning, into three child nodes wherein two of the three child nodes are of equal sizes and wherein a third of the three child nodes is twice the size of each of said two of the three child nodes that are of said equal sizes, where said two of the three child nodes are farther from a center of a respective said parent node with said third of the three child nodes that is partitioned being at said center; identify each of the child nodes within each respective parent coding unit, wherein a node can be recursively partitioned into smaller nodes, wherein both said asymmetric ternary partitioning and/or said symmetric binary partitioning are allowed in the partitioning structure in either order during a recursive partitioning of a root node or parent node; and decode the identified child nodes.