A method for controlling video coding includes obtaining a target rate for an image data unit to be encoded using one or more coding parameters. The one or more coding parameters are determined based on the target rate and a rate control model associated with one or more model parameters. The method further includes determining the one or more model parameters associated with the rate control model based on an encoding of one or more reference image data units using one or more reference coding parameters, determining the one or more coding parameters for encoding the image data unit based on the target rate and the rate control model associated with the one or more determined model parameters, and using the one or more determined coding parameters to encode the image data unit.