A method, and apparatus, and logic encoded in one or more computer-readable tangible medium to carry out a method. The method is to code a plurality of ordered sequences of quantized transform coefficients of a corresponding plurality of blocks of image data using a hybrid coding method that includes determining a breakpoint location in the sequence between a low frequency region and a high frequency region; coding the low-frequency region using a selected low-frequency variable length coding method; coding the high-frequency region using a selected high-frequency variable length coding method; and coding the location of the breakpoint. The plurality of blocks include adjacent blocks and form a multi-block partition. The breakpoint location is determined as a function of the sequences of the multi-block partition such that different multi-block partitions can have different breakpoints.