A method of rate-distortion computations for video compression is disclosed. The method may include steps (A) to (C). Step (A) may generate a plurality of transform coefficients from a residual block of the video using a circuit. Step (B) may generate a block distortion value (i) based on the transform coefficients and (ii) independent of a plurality of inverse transform samples produced from the residual block. Step (C) may generate a rate-distortion value from the block distortion value.