A video decoding method and apparatus, the video decoding apparatus including: a decoder unit to control a video decoding operation; and a multi-core processor to perform the video decoding operation on an input bitstream by using the decoding unit, wherein the multi-core processor includes: a first core to parse the input bitstream into a plurality of slices and to allocate the slices; and a second core to receive one of the slices, to generate a plurality of macroblocks by decoding the received slice, to alternately store the macroblocks in first and second buffers included in an auxiliary memory thereof, to alternately transfer the macroblocks from the first and second buffers to a main memory, and to reconstruct an image for the macroblocks, wherein the macroblocks are transferred from one of the first and second buffers while the macroblocks are stored in the other one of the first and second buffers.