An adaptive dequantization method and apparatus in video coding includes, a statistical feature of a background area in which a current transform block is located is estimated using spatial neighborhood information, or temporal neighborhood information, or spatial neighborhood information and temporal neighborhood information of the transform block, a quantization adjustment factor for dequantization is adaptively derived, and dequantization processing is flexibly adjusted. Hence quantization adjustment information is transmitted in a bitstream, according to the method and the apparatus, and extra bit overheads are not required to transmit the quantization adjustment information, thereby further improving coding efficiency.