Image encoding /
decoding methods and apparatus are provided. The image decoding method performed by the image decoding apparatus according to this disclosure includes the following steps: obtaining a first flag indicating the presence of
Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) HRD parameters in the
bitstream and a second flag indicating the presence of Video Coding Layer (VCL) HRD parameters in the
bitstream; obtaining a third flag indicating whether the time interval between the output times of consecutive frames in the
bitstream has a fixed value; deriving the output time of the frames in the bitstream based on at least one of the first, second, and third flags; and
processing the frames in the bitstream based on the derived output times, wherein the first flag has a second value indicating that the NAL HRD parameters are not present in the bitstream and the second flag has a second value indicating that the VCL HRD parameters are not present in the bitstream, and the third flag can be restricted to having a first value indicating that the time interval between the output times of consecutive frames in the bitstream has a fixed value.