A method compensates for drift in macroblocks of a partially decoded input bitstream. The macroblocks include intra-mode and inter-mode macroblocks, and each macroblock includes DCT coefficients, and at least one motion vector. An estimate of drift is measured in the partially decoded input bitstream. The estimated drift is translated into an intra refresh rate. The modes of inter-mode macroblock are mapped to intra-mode macroblock according to the refresh rate. The DCT coefficients and the motion vector for each changed macroblock are modified in accordance with the mapping for each changed macroblock.