A Block Matching Algorithm (BMA) is a way of locating matching blocks in a sequence of digital video frames for the purposes of motion estimation.
The purpose of a block matching algorithm is to find a matching block from a frame in some other frame , which may appear before or after . This can be used to discover temporal redundancy in the video sequence, increasing the effectiveness of interframe video compression and television standards conversion.
Block matching algorithms make use of criteria to determine whether a given block in frame matches the search block in frame .