A motion compensation method includes: specifying, using a motion vector of a current block, a reference image area for use in motion compensation for each of the current block and a current sub-block spatially adjacent to the current block, to read out reference pixel data of the specified area from a frame memory; performing motion compensation using the reference pixel data read out in the readout, to generate prediction pixel data for each of the current block and the current sub-block; outputting the prediction pixel data for the current block, generated in the performing of motion compensation; and temporarily storing the prediction pixel data for the current sub-block, generated in the performing of motion compensation.