The present disclosure relates to deblocking filtering, which may be advantageously applied for block-wise encoding and decoding of images or video signals. In particular, the present disclosure relates to an improved memory management in an automated decision on whether to apply or skip deblocking filtering for a block and to selection of the deblocking filter. The decision is performed on the basis of a segmentation of blocks in such a manner that memory usage is optimized. Preferably, the selection of appropriate deblocking filters is improved so as to reduce computational expense.