Aspects of the disclosure provide method and apparatus for video coding. In some examples, an apparatus includes receiving circuitry and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry decodes, from a coded video bitstream, a syntax element for an adjusted version of an initial quantization parameter (QP) value at a picture level for a picture. The adjusted version is in a range with an upper boundary that is changed with a maximum QP value. Then, the processing circuitry determines the initial QP value of a segment (such as a slice, a tile, a group of tiles and the like) in the picture based on the syntax element and determines a QP value for a block in the segment according to the initial QP value of the segment and adjustments associated with the block. Then, the processing circuitry performs an inverse quantization on quantized data of the block according to the determined QP value.