1. A method for identifying the presence of a three-dimensional (3D) image format in a received image, the method comprising: generating first and second sub-images from the received image using a sampling method corresponding to a candidate 3D format selected from a plurality of 3D formats; detecting at least one feature in the first and second sub-images; determining a correspondence between the at least one feature in the first sub-image and the at least one feature in the second sub-image; computing positional differences between the at least one feature in the first sub-image that correspond to the at least one feature in the second sub-image; wherein, if said positional differences are determined to be uniform and less or equal to than a threshold, determining whether each 3D format of the plurality of 3D formats has been selected as a candidate 3D format; and if all 3D formats in the plurality of 3D formats have been selected, identifying the received image as a two-dimensional (2D) format; and if all 3D formats in the plurality of 3D formats have not been selected, selecting as the candidate 3D format a 3D format not previously selected from the plurality of 3D formats and repeating the generating and computing steps using the not previously selected 3D format; and wherein, if said positional differences are determined not to be uniform and are determined to be greater than the threshold, identifying the received image as being formatted in a candidate 3D format used to make such determination.