1. A motion vector search apparatus comprising: a global motion vector search unit, which determines a global motion vector which indicates global motion of a current input image by evaluating differences between an input image one frame earlier and said current input image for a predetermined range; a motion vector search area determination unit, which determines the search area of macroblock motion vectors for macroblocks in a current image to be encoded, based on said global motion vector; and, a motion vector search unit that determines said macroblock motion vector by comparing said macroblock in said current image with a block in said search area of a reference image that is referred to during encodeing said current image.