Abstract: A spatial guided prediction technique uses reconstructed pixels of a first component of a digital video image block to determine prediction modes used to recursively build prediction blocks for the other components of the same digital video image block. The technique builds improved predictions resulting in smaller prediction residuals and less bits to code for a given image quality. In one embodiment, the prediction blocks for the subsequent digital video component blocks are built recursively line by line. In another embodiment, the prediction blocks for subsequent digital video component blocks are built recursively column by column.