At least one processor is configured to encode samples of a largest coding unit (LCU) of a picture using a sample adaptive offset (SAO) mode. To encode the samples of the LCU using SAO, the at least one processor is configured to: calculate differences between corresponding reconstructed samples of the LCU and original samples of the LCU, clip a number of bits from each of the differences to form clipped differences, sum the clipped differences to form a sum of differences, clip the sum of differences to form a clipped sum of differences, calculate a number of the reconstructed samples, clip a number of bits from the number of reconstructed samples to form a dipped number of samples, and divide the clipped sum of differences by the clipped number of samples to produce an offset for the LCU.