ENCODER, DECODER, ENCODING METHOD, AND DECODING METHOD

An image encoder performs a first partitioning including using a first partition mode, without writing first splitting information indicative of the first partition mode into a bitstream, to split a first block into a plurality of second blocks in response to that the first block is located adjacent to an edge of a picture and that the dimensions of the first block satisfy a first condition; and performs a second partitioning on the second block by writing second splitting information indicative of a second partition mode into the bitstream, and using the second partition mode to split the second block into a plurality of coding units (CUs), wherein the second partition mode prohibits the quad tree splitting of the second block in certain conditions.