A method and apparatus for differential coding of blocks of images includes coding the difference between a current block of an image to be transmitted and one of four blocks of the reconstructed current image in the closest vicinity of the current block. The device includes a differential image coding structure having a quantifier coupled to a variable-length coding device, a predictor and a device for reconstruction of the transmitted image coupled to a first image memory. The device further includes a second image memory for storing image blocks previously reconstructed in the image preceding the current image.