The present invention is related to line based vertical motion estimation and vertical motion compensation in consecutive frames of a motion picture, wherein the picture is divided in at least one region, and wherein: in a first summation luminance values for each line of the at least one region of a previous frame are summed, wherein the first summation of luminance values results in a previous accumulation profile; in a second summation of luminance values of for each line of the at least one region of a current frame are summed, wherein said second summation of luminance values results in a current accumulation profile; and wherein a vertical motion vector is derived by use of the previous accumulation profile and of the current accumulation profile.