A method for encoding a digital image, which is divided into a plurality of blocks of pixels processed in a defined order. The method includes the following acts for a current block: a) obtaining a basic motion vector of the current block with respect to a reference image previously decoded; b) obtaining a partitioning into sub-blocks of the area pointed to in the reference image by the basic motion vector and applying the partitioning obtained to the current block; and c) scanning the sub-blocks of the current block according to a predetermined scanning order and encoding the sub-blocks scanned. The encoding includes modifying the partitioning of the current block into sub-blocks according to predetermined rules, coding the sub-blocks of the modified partitioning comprising coding reporting information on the modification of the partitioning, and validating the modified partitioning by applying a rate-distortion criterion to the coded sub-blocks of the modified partitioning.