Systems and methods are provided for improving accuracy and efficiency of a context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) by adaptively selecting a context model specific to the characteristics of a coding unit (CU), such as the size, dimension (height and/or width), type (luma or chroma), and/or flag type (cu_palette_flag or pred_mode_flag) of the CU, that comprise: determining a characteristic of the CU; determining whether the characteristic of the CU meets a corresponding threshold; and upon determining that the characteristic of the CU meets the corresponding threshold, selecting a first context model, or upon determining that the characteristic of the CU fails to meet the corresponding threshold, selecting a second context model.