An apparatus and method for video encoding comprising one or more electronic devices configured to: receive input data associated with a coding unit (CU) of video data, determine a binary tree partitioning structure corresponding to a block partitioning process including a binary tree partitioning process for the CU, wherein the binary tree partitioning structure represents partitioning the CU into a plurality of transform units (TUs), and when the binary tree partitioning process decides to apply binary tree partition to one given CU, said one given CU is always split into two Tus, and apply an encoding process comprising transform process to the CU by applying the encoding process at a level corresponding to the TUs.