Abstract: A method, an apparatus and a coder for selecting an optimal reference frame in HEVC coding are disclosed. The method includes obtaining optimal reference frames of prediction units spatially adjacent to a current prediction unit, and determining an optimal reference frame of the current prediction unit based on a correlation between optimal reference frames of the spatially adjacent prediction units in a same layer depth for prediction unit(s) of a minimum layer depth. In this way, an ergodic rate distortion cost calculation is not needed to be performed at least for the prediction unit(s) of the minimum layer depth, and the corresponding optimal reference frame is directly determined using the correlation, thus reducing the amount of calculations and enhancing the coding efficiency.