Disclosed herein are innovations in decoding compressed video media data. The disclosed innovations facilitate decoding operations with improved computational efficiency, faster speeds, reduced power, reduced memory usage, and/or reduced latency. In one embodiment, for example, an encoded bitstream of video media data is input from an external video content provider, the encoded bitstream being encoded according to a video codec standard. A decoder is then configured to decode the encoded bitstream based at least in part on supplemental information that identifies a property of the encoded bitstream but that is supplemental to the encoded bitstream (e.g., supplemental information that is not part of the encoded bitstream or its associated media container and that is specific (or related) to the application for which the bitstream is used and/or the standard by which the bitstream is encoded and/or encrypted).