Image processing in mobile devices is optimized by combining at least two of the color conversion, rotation, and scaling operations. Received images, such as still images or frames of video stream, are subjected to a combined transformation after decoding, where each pixel is color converted (e.g. from YUV to RGB), rotated, and scaled as needed. By combining two or three of the processes into one, read/write operations consuming significant processing and memory resources are reduced enabling processing of higher resolution images and/or power and processing resource savings.