A method and apparatus for performing motion estimation aided noise reduction encoding and decoding are provided. Motion estimation aided noise reduction encoding can include identifying a motion vector for encoding a current block in a video frame based on a reference block in a reference frame, identifying a noise reduction block for denoising the current block, aligning the noise reduction block with the current block, denoising the current block, identifying a motion vector for encoding the denoised block, generating a residual block for encoding the denoised block, and encoding the denoised block. Denoising the current block can include identifying a filter coefficient for a pixel in the current block based on a corresponding pixel in the noise reduction block, producing a denoised pixel based on the coefficient and the corresponding pixel, and determining whether to use the denoised pixel or the current pixel for encoding the block.