Encoding and decoding methods are presented that used offset-based adaptive reconstruction levels. The offset data is inserted in the bitstream with the encoded video data. The offset data may be differential data and may be an index to an array of offset values from which the differential offset is calculated by the decoder. The offset to an adaptive reconstruction level may be adjusted for each slice. The offsets may be specific to a particular level/index and data type. In some cases, offsets may only be sent for a subset of the levels. Higher levels may apply no offset, may apply an average offset, or may apply the offset used for the highest level having a level-specific offset.