Method and apparatus for bit rate reduction in video telephony

Method and apparatus for encoding video is described. In one example, average of motion vectors for each of a plurality of blocks is maintained over a threshold number of inter-coded frames in the video. The running average of motion vectors for each of the plurality of blocks is compared to a threshold value. Each of the plurality of blocks the running average of which does not satisfy the threshold value is encoded using a first quantization parameter. Each of the plurality of blocks the running average of which satisfies the threshold value is encoded using a second quantization parameter. The second quantization parameter results in a coarser quantization of transformed coefficients than the first quantization parameter.