Patent ID: 7650032

Claim:
A moving image encoding method for encoding an inputted picture on a block-by-block basis after dividing the picture into blocks, the picture including luminance components and chrominance components, said method comprising: a prediction encoding step of encoding the picture, using a prediction encoding unit, by referring to an encoded area in the picture or a different encoded picture; a reconstructed picture generation step of reconstructing the picture, using a reconstructed picture generation unit, and using encoded data generated in said prediction encoding step; and a deblocking step of reducing distortion using a deblocking unit, by filtering a boundary between blocks of the reconstructed picture generated in said reconstructed picture generation step, wherein in said deblocking step, filters are respectively applied to the luminance components and the chrominance components: a type of the filters is selected based on encoding information of each luminance components, and the selected filter is applied to the luminance component; and a filter selected for a luminance component, which belongs to a same field as a chrominance component and corresponds to the chrominance component, is applied to the chrominance component.