A moving image data management apparatus which manages moving image data and representative image data by using one or plural representative image data in correspondence with each moving image data. A thumbnail representing an arbitrary section in a moving image represented by moving image data is generated, and stored in a thumbnail area of the moving image file. Indexes corresponding to the respective thumbnails are stored in an index area of the moving image file. Each index includes start point/end point indicating a section in moving image data represented by the thumbnail image and attribute information indicating usage of the thumbnail. By this attribute information, operability of moving image data using representative images can be improved upon execution of various moving image data processing, and management of the representative images can be simplified.