In one example, a video coder is configured to code information indicative of whether view synthesis prediction is enabled for video data. When the information indicates that view synthesis prediction is enabled for the video data, the video coder may generate a view synthesis picture using the video data and code at least a portion of a current picture relative to the view synthesis picture. The at least portion of the current picture may comprise, for example, a block (e.g., a PU, a CU, a macroblock, or a partition of a macroblock), a slice, a tile, a wavefront, or the entirety of the current picture. On the other hand, when the information indicates that view synthesis prediction is not enabled for the video data, the video coder may code the current picture using at least one of intra-prediction, temporal inter-prediction, and inter-view prediction without reference to any view synthesis pictures.