A computer-implemented method for controlling bit rate includes determining a difference between a cumulative number of bits used to encode one or more slices of a frame up to and including a first slice encoded using a first coding parameter and a maximum number of bits allowed to encode the one or more slices of the frame, updating a coding parameter threshold based at least in part on a counter that indicates a number of times when one or more coding parameters used to encode the one or more slices reach or exceed the coding parameter threshold, and determining a second coding parameter used to encode a second slice of the frame based at least in part on the difference and the updated coding parameter threshold.