A video coding method applied to an input signal consisting of a sequence of frames represented by one luminance matrix and two chrominance matrices generates a coded bitstream in which each data item is described by a bitstream syntax allowing any decoder to recognize and decode all the segments of the content of the bitstream. The syntax includes a flag provided for indicating at a high level description the presence, or absence, of chrominance components in the coded bitstream, and therefore allowing to deliver, at the decoding side, the information according to which chrominance descriptive elements have to be decoded, or not.