METHOD FOR ENCODING AND DECODING MOVING VECTOR, ENCODER AND DECODER FOR MOVING VECTOR, AND RECORDING MEDIUM STORED WITH ENCODING AND DECODING PROGRAMS FOR MOVING VECTOR

Motion vector encoding and decoding methods, motion vector encoding and decoding apparatuses, and storage media storing motion vector encoding and decoding programs are provided, thereby reducing the amount of generated code with respect to the motion vector. First, the motion vector of a target block to be encoded is detected (step S1), and a prediction error vector is calculated (step S2). After the length component of the motion vector is calculated (step S3), the length component is variable-length-encoded (step S4). The length component is checked (step S5), and if the length component is not 0, the direction component is calculated (step S6). The table for encoding the direction component is selected according to the length component, and the direction component is encoded (step S7).