A method of performing inter-picture prediction of a current picture of a video sequence is performed by at least one processor and includes determining whether the current picture uses a virtual reference picture, and based on the current picture being determined to use the virtual reference picture, generating, for the current picture, the virtual reference picture from neighboring reference pictures that are nearest neighbors to the virtual reference picture, storing the generated virtual reference picture in a decoded picture buffer, and adding the generated virtual reference picture to an active reference picture list. The method further includes performing the inter-picture prediction of the current picture, based on the active reference picture list to which the virtual reference picture is added.