High-quality video encoding may be implemented using a single-chip multiprocessor system. Video encoding may be parallelized to take advantage of multiple processing elements available on a single-chip multiprocessor system. Task level parallelism may comprise parallelizing encoding tasks, such as motion estimation, compensation, transformation, quantization, deblocking filtering, and the like across multiple processing elements. Data level parallelism may comprise segmenting video frame data into macroblock partitions and slabs adapted to provide data independence between parallel processing elements. Data communications and synchronization features of the single-chip system may be leveraged to provide for data sharing and synchronism between processing elements.