Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for reducing image noise with the use of a minimal error spatiotemporal recursive filter. An input image is filtered both temporally and spatially, producing a temporal output and a spatial output. Both the temporal output and the spatial output are correlated with the input image to produce a temporal correlation output and a spatial correlation output. The temporal correlation output and the spatial correlation output are mixed to generate a selecting signal. The selecting signal directly or indirectly determines the composition of an output image. The selecting signal may select a portion of the temporal output and a portion of the spatial output to compose an output image. Alternatively, the selecting signal may select either the temporal output or the spatial output to compose an output image.