The invention is an image coding method for video compression, especially for efficient encoding and decoding of true 3D content, without extreme bandwidth requirements, being compatible with the current standards serving as an extension, providing a scalable format. The method comprises of the steps of obtaining geometry-related information about the 3D geometry of the 3D scene and generating a common relative motion vector set on the basis of the geometry-related information, the common relative motion vector set corresponding to the real 3D geometry. This motion vector generating step (37) replaces conventional motion estimation and motion vector calculation applied in the standard (MPEG4/H.264 AVC, MVC, etc.) procedures. Inter-frame coding is carried out by creating predictive frames, starting from an intra frame, being one of the 2D view images on the basis of the intra frame and the common relative motion vector set. On the decoder side large number of views are reconstructed based on dense, but real 3D geometry information. The invention also relates to image coding and decoding apparatuses carrying out the encoding and decoding methods, as well as to computer readable media storing computer executable instructions for the inventive methods. (FIG. 8)