In a video signal recording/reproducing apparatus, a video signal is subjected to bit rate reduction including a variable length processing to obtain a coded data. The coded data is separated into basic data which shows a basic construction of video image and has a fixed data length and additional data which shows detailed information of the video image and has a variable data length. In recording the coded data containing basic data and additional data on a recording medium, the basic data is recorded in one region on the recording medium and the additional data is recorded continuously in a region other than the basic data recording region, by which both data are recorded in separated regions on the recording medium.