1. An image processing system suited for post-processing compressed and decompressed images, the system comprising: a region segmenter configured to sub-divide data representing at least one image frame to generate a plurality of image regions; an artifact detector configured to analyze each of the plurality of image regions for the existence of an image artifact, the artifact detector further configured to identify regions containing an image artifact; a filter configured to receive an indication of image regions containing an image artifact from the artifact detector, wherein the filter smoothes at least one picture element data value in accordance with at least one viewer selected parameter to generate modified picture element data; and an output memory communicatively coupled with the filter wherein the output memory assembles an image artifact reduced image frame comprising unmodified picture element data from the at least one image frame and smoothed picture element data to generate an artifact reduced representation of the at least one image frame.