A reproduction apparatus for successively decoding and reproducing a plurality of picture data, comprising a reproduction memory and a decoder for successively decoding the plurality of picture data in an order in accordance with a designated reproduction direction, writing the decoding results in the reproduction memory, and reproducing and outputting the decoding results read from the reproduction memory, the decoder holding the storage of the decoding results in the reproduction memory even after the decoding results stored in the reproduction memory are no longer used when continuing reproduction in the designated reproduction direction and, when receiving as input a reversal command of the reproduction direction, performing the reproduction and output using the decoding results already stored in the reproduction memory before the input of the reversal command.