In an example, aspects of the disclosure relate to a method for decoding a reference index syntax element in a video decoding process that includes decoding at least one bin of a reference index value with a context coding mode of a context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) process. The method also includes decoding, when the reference index value comprises more bins than the at least one bin coded with the context coded mode, at least another bin of the reference index value with a bypass coding mode of the CABAC process, and binarizing the reference index value.