Approaches to delivering video in a chroma sampling format with a higher chroma sampling rate (such as a YUV 4:4:4 format) using a video encoder and decoder that operate on video in another chroma sampling format with a lower chroma sampling rate (such as YUV 4:2:0) are described. A video decoder can recover stationary content in video at the higher chroma sampling rate, even when the video is encoded and decoded at the lower chroma sampling rate, without significantly increasing bit rate. In some example implementations, the approaches preserve chroma information from pictures in a higher-resolution chroma sampling format, while leveraging commercially available codecs adapted for a lower-resolution chroma sampling format such as YUV 4:2:0, which is widely supported in products.