A video decoding apparatus, comprising: an entropy decoding module configured to receive information on a size of a minimum coding unit, wherein the minimum coding unit represents a smallest coding unit that can be split from a largest coding unit based on a quad-tree structure, to determine the size of a minimum coding unit based on the information on the size of the minimum coding unit, to derive a current coding unit, wherein a coding unit is split into multiple coding units (410, 420, 430) in a current picture, and the current coding unit is one of the multiple coding units and wherein intra prediction is applied on the current coding unit, to check whether a size of the current coding unit is equal to the size of the minimum coding unit, to derive one or multiple prediction units from the current coding unit based on the result of the checking; and a prediction module configured to perform the intra prediction with respect to the derived one or multiple prediction units, wherein if the size of the current coding unit is equal to the size of the minimum coding unit: - explicit partition information is received and the one or multiple prediction units are derived based on the explicit partition information, wherein if the size of the current coding unit is not equal to the size of the minimum coding unit: - the one prediction unit of a same size as the current coding unit is derived without receiving the explicit partition information, - deriving the multiple prediction units from the current coding unit is not available, and wherein if the multiple prediction units are derived, intra prediction mode information for each of the multiple prediction units is received, and the intra prediction is performed based on the intra prediction mode information. an entropy decoding module configured to receive information on a size of a minimum coding unit, wherein the minimum coding unit represents a smallest coding unit that can be split from a largest coding unit based on a quad-tree structure, to determine the size of a minimum coding unit based on the information on the size of the minimum coding unit, to derive a current coding unit, wherein a coding unit is split into multiple coding units (410, 420, 430) in a current picture, and the current coding unit is one of the multiple coding units and wherein intra prediction is applied on the current coding unit, to check whether a size of the current coding unit is equal to the size of the minimum coding unit, to derive one or multiple prediction units from the current coding unit based on the result of the checking; and a prediction module configured to perform the intra prediction with respect to the derived one or multiple prediction units, wherein if the size of the current coding unit is equal to the size of the minimum coding unit: - explicit partition information is received and the one or multiple prediction units are derived based on the explicit partition information, - explicit partition information is received and the one or multiple prediction units are derived based on the explicit partition information, wherein if the size of the current coding unit is not equal to the size of the minimum coding unit: - the one prediction unit of a same size as the current coding unit is derived without receiving the explicit partition information, - deriving the multiple prediction units from the current coding unit is not available, and - the one prediction unit of a same size as the current coding unit is derived without receiving the explicit partition information, - deriving the multiple prediction units from the current coding unit is not available, and wherein if the multiple prediction units are derived, intra prediction mode information for each of the multiple prediction units is received, and the intra prediction is performed based on the intra prediction mode information.