Methods and apparatuses for coding occlusion layers, such as occlusion video data and occlusion depth data in 3D video, are disclosed. A decoding method comprising the steps of: extracting an indicator representative of an original format for received occlusion data, the original format selected from one of a sparse occlusion data format and a filled occlusion data format; decoding the received occlusion data to produce decoded occlusion data; and when the indicator indicates the original format as a filled occlusion data format, converting the decoded occlusion data from a sparse occlusion data format to the filled occlusion data format, the converting further including; replacing non-occlusion area data, which is represented with a defined characteristic, by respective collocated samples from 2D data in the video data frame associated with the occlusion data; outputting the decoded occlusion data and, when present, converted decoded occlusion data.