A device determines, based at least in part on a syntax element in a scalable nesting supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message encapsulated by an SEI Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit, whether a nested SEI message encapsulated by the scalable nesting SEI message is applicable to a default sub-bitstream. The default sub-bitstream is an operation point representation of an operation point defined by a layer identifier specified in a NAL unit header of the SEI NAL unit and a temporal identifier specified in the NAL unit header. When the nested SEI message is applicable to the default sub-bitstream, the device uses the nested SEI message in an operation on the default sub-bitstream.