Encoding or decoding blocks of video frames using multiple reference frames with adaptive temporal filtering can include generating one or more candidate reference frames by applying temporal filtering to one or more frames of a video sequence according to relationships between respective ones of the one or more frames and a current frame of the video sequence. A reference frame to use for predicting the current frame can be selected from the one or more candidate reference frames, and a prediction block can be generated using the selected reference frame. During an encoding operation, the prediction block can be used to encode a block of a current frame of the video sequence. During a decoding operation, the prediction block can be used to decode a block of a current frame of the video sequence.