An apparatus for band compression processing of a picture signal which generates forecasting error signal (block 3) and movement vector (block 1) and updates only the movement vector during a comb-out operation. During comb-out processing, a picture signal is recirculated (block 5) while the movement vector is produced and accumulated (block 11). At the end of the comb-out processing, the change in the movement vector from the accumulated vector is within a desired range. Therefore, a scale of circuit does not increase for detecting the movement vector after the comb-out operation.