According to an embodiment, an image processing apparatus has a monitoring unit, and an arbitration unit. The monitoring unit monitors a data amount in a first transfer buffer of a first image processing unit, and a data amount in a second transfer buffer of a second image processing unit. The arbitration unit arbitrates, so that when the data amount in the first transfer buffer becomes not less than a predetermined first threshold value, the number of times of data transfer from the first transfer buffer to a main memory is increased. Furthermore the arbitration unit arbitrates, so that when the data amount in the second transfer buffer becomes not more than a predetermined second threshold value, the number of times of data transfer from the main memory to the second transfer buffer is increased.