Systems and methods may provide flexible picture partitioning, a method includes receiving a coded picture that is partitioned into a plurality of coding tree units (CTUs), wherein at least one row or column of CTUs, among the plurality of CTUs of the coded picture, that is adjacent to a boundary of the coded picture has a size dimension that is smaller than a corresponding size dimension of each CTU among the plurality of CTUs that is not adjacent to any boundary of the coded picture; and decoding the coded picture based on the plurality of CTUs, wherein the at least one row or column of CTUs includes a first CTU row or a first CTU column of the coded picture that is adjacent to a top boundary or left boundary of the coded picture, respectively.