It is an object of this invention to allow easy recognition of the contents of a motion image file when INDEX is displayed. To achieve this object, an image playback apparatus includes a playback device adapted to play back from a recording medium a plurality of image files each having motion image data, a display device having a function of displaying on the same screen representative images of a plurality of image files recorded on the recording medium by using the image files played back by the playback device, a selecting device adapted to select an arbitrary one of the plurality of representative images displayed on the display device, and a control device adapted to control the playback device and the display device such that the display form of the representative image selected by the selecting device differs from the display form of other representative images.