Disclosed is a method of decoding sample adaptive offset type index data from a received stream of encoded video data. The method determines an arithmetically encoded first portion of a sample adaptive offset type index value from the stream of video data, and a bypass encoded second portion of the sample adaptive offset type index value when the first portion indicates that the second portion will be present in the stream of video data. The method decodes the sample adaptive offset type index from a combination of the decoded first and second portions of the sample adaptive offset type index values. The sample adaptive offset type index data is used to select one of a plurality of offsets in digital video decoding. Corresponding methods of encoding are also disclosed.