A pre-processing of a pixel in a picture comprises determining, based on a minimum color component value for the pixel, whether a default processing chain is used to derive a luma component value, a first subsampled chroma component value and a second subsampled chroma component value or whether an auxiliary processing chain is used to derive at least one of the luma component value, the first subsampled chroma component value and the second subsampled chroma component value. The pre-processing improves the visual quality of pictures but at a low cost with regard to extra processing time.