Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are disclosed for encoder and/or decoder optimization using a multi-threaded parallel processing framework. An encoding and/or decoding device may receive a video sequence that includes a plurality of first-temporal level pictures associated with a first temporal level and a plurality of second-temporal level pictures associated with a second temporal level. The encoding and/or decoding device may allocate a first number of parallel processing threads for encoding and/or decoding the first-temporal level pictures and a second number of parallel processing threads for encoding and/or decoding the second-temporal level pictures. The device may perform this allocation based on temporal level priority, for example. The encoding and/or decoding device may encode and/or decode the first-temporal level pictures and the second-temporal level pictures. This encoding and/or decoding may be based on the allocation of the first number of parallel processing threads and the second number of parallel processing threads.