A method for motion compensated encoding of video data.The method comprises the steps of: generating a motion vector field of video pixels of a current frame to be coded based on a reference frame; obtaining segmenting information defining the division of the current frame into image segments; coding the motion vector field of an image segment S.sub.k to provide compressed motion information comprising a motion coefficient vector c.sub.k comprising a set of motion coefficients c.sub.i, such that c.sub.if.sub.i(x,y) represents the motion vector field, whereby f.sub.i(x,y) defines a certain set of basis functions, wherein i is an index defining a correspondence between each basis function and a corresponding motion coefficient; predicting a motion vector field of a subsequent image segment S.sub.L with a set of predicted motion coefficients p.sub.i based upon the previously generated motion coefficient vector c.sub.k; generating for the subsequent segment S.sub.L a set of refinement motion coefficients r.sub.i corresponding to the difference between the set of motion coefficients c.sub.i and a set of predicted motion coefficients p.sub.i such that p.sub.i+r.sub.i=c.sub.i. Another aspects of the invention comprise corresponding video codec, mobile station, telecommunications network and computer program product.