Disclosed herein are an image encoding and decoding method and apparatus. The image decoding method may include obtaining video coding layer (VCL) network abstraction layer (NAL) unit type information of a current picture from a bitstream, determining a NAL unit type of each of a plurality of slices included in the current picture, based on the obtained VCL NAL unit type information, and decoding the plurality of slices based on the determined NAL unit type. The current picture may include a first subpicture and a second subpicture having different NAL unit types based on that at least some of the plurality of slices have different NAL unit types, and a NAL unit type of the second subpicture may be determined based on a NAL unit type of the first subpicture.