A video coding mechanism for viewpoint dependent video coding is disclosed. The mechanism includes mapping a spherical video sequence into a plurality of sub-picture video sequences. The mechanism further includes encoding the plurality of sub-picture video sequences as sub-picture bitstreams to support merging of the plurality of sub-picture bitstreams, the encoding ensuring that each sub-picture bitstream is self-referenced and two or more of the sub-picture bitstreams can be merged to generate a single video bitstream using a lightweight bitstream rewriting process that does not involve changing of any block-level coding results. A mergeable indication is encoded to indicate that the sub-picture bitstream containing the indication is compatible with a multi-bitstream merge function for reconstruction of the spherical video sequence. A set of the sub-picture bitstreams and the mergeable indication are transmitted toward the decoder to support decoding and displaying a virtual reality video viewport.