A receiving device comprising: a receiving section configured to receive a container in a prescribed format, the container including a video stream of image data, the image data being classified into a plurality of layers, each layer having image data of pictures constituting moving image data; an image decoding section configured to selectively retrieve and decode coded image data of a selected layer and one or more layers lower than the selected layer from the video stream included in the received container, to obtain decoded moving image data of the selected layer; a playback speed adjustment section configured to adjust a speed of image playback according to the decoded image data to match a frame frequency of pictures in the selected layer; a control section configured to control the playback speed adjustment section and to control the image decoding section, and a demultiplexing section configured to classify the image data of each picture constituting moving image data into a plurality of layers so that, except for a lowest layer, pictures belonging to each layer are equal in number to pictures belonging to all lower layers, and in addition, are positioned in a temporal center between the pictures belonging to all lower layers, so that the frame frequency doubles every time the layer is raised by one; wherein information included in the container includes frequency information of pictures in a lowest layer and layer number information indicating the number of the plurality of layers; and wherein the information included in the container includes layer identification information for identifying each of the plurality of layers, and the image decoding section is configured to selectively retrieve and decode coded image data in the selected layer and lower layers from the video stream on the basis of the layer identification information; characterized in that the control section is configured to determine the highest decodable layer on the basis of the frequency information of the pictures in the lowest layer, the number of the plurality of layers in the container, and decoding performance of the receiving device. a receiving section configured to receive a container in a prescribed format, the container including a video stream of image data, the image data being classified into a plurality of layers, each layer having image data of pictures constituting moving image data; an image decoding section configured to selectively retrieve and decode coded image data of a selected layer and one or more layers lower than the selected layer from the video stream included in the received container, to obtain decoded moving image data of the selected layer; a playback speed adjustment section configured to adjust a speed of image playback according to the decoded image data to match a frame frequency of pictures in the selected layer; a control section configured to control the playback speed adjustment section and to control the image decoding section, and a demultiplexing section configured to classify the image data of each picture constituting moving image data into a plurality of layers so that, except for a lowest layer, pictures belonging to each layer are equal in number to pictures belonging to all lower layers, and in addition, are positioned in a temporal center between the pictures belonging to all lower layers, so that the frame frequency doubles every time the layer is raised by one; wherein information included in the container includes frequency information of pictures in a lowest layer and layer number information indicating the number of the plurality of layers; and wherein the information included in the container includes layer identification information for identifying each of the plurality of layers, and the image decoding section is configured to selectively retrieve and decode coded image data in the selected layer and lower layers from the video stream on the basis of the layer identification information; characterized in that the control section is configured to determine the highest decodable layer on the basis of the frequency information of the pictures in the lowest layer, the number of the plurality of layers in the container, and decoding performance of the receiving device.