Abstract: A very low bit rate video and audio coding system that performs allocation for distributing the bit rate based on the needs for the video and audio signals is disclosed. The audio time bands are set to frames as determined by the video signal. The audio is encoded first to determine the number of bits that will be saved based on the energy distribution of the audio signal. Audio signal information is stored in a FIFO buffer to await the arrival of the accompanying video signal. The video signal is then coded as an I picture, a P picture or an extra P picture based on the number of bits available in the buffer, the number of bits saved by the audio encoding, and the minimum number of bits required for video coding. After encoding, the video signal is sent to the FIFO buffer to be matched with the audio signal and outputted as one bit stream by a multiplexer.