This disclosure describes techniques for mitigating rounding errors in a fixed-point transform associated with video coding by applying a variable localized bit-depth increase at the transform. More specifically, the techniques include selecting a constant value based on a size of a fixed-point transform in a video coding device and applying a variable localized bit-depth increase at the transform with a value equal to the constant value. Applying the variable localized bit-depth increase includes left-shifting a transform input signal by a number of bits equal to the constant value before the fixed-point transform, and right-shifting a transform output signal by a number of bits equal to the constant value after the fixed-point transform. The constant value is selected from a plurality of constant values stored on the video coding device. Each of the constant values is pre-calculated for one of a plurality of different transform sizes supported by the video coding.