Method and apparatus for detecting transitions in a video sequence, which include detecting an abrupt transition including, for each image It−2k included in said video sequence and with a processing time rank t−2k: calculating a first distance D(It−k), between an image It−k and a reference image for said image It−k, which precedes said image It−k in the video sequence; calculating a second distance D(It−2k), between an image It−2k and a reference image for said image It−2k, which precedes said image It−2k in the video sequence; calculating a third distance D(It−3k), between an image It−3k and a reference image for said image It−3k, which precedes said image It−3k in the video sequence; calculating a criterion C′ indicating whether said second distance D(It−2k) is significantly greater than the largest of the first and third distances, D(It−k) and D(It−3k); deciding, according to said criterion C′, on the belonging of the image It−2k to an abrupt transition.