AbstractThe use of conventional CDP‐stacking in the processing of reflection data imposes restrictions on the horizontal and vertical resolution. Ideally, the final seismic section should consist only of short offset or, in practice, near‐trace primary energy. Through the use of the iterative stacking algorithm, the signal‐to‐noise ratio on a single trace in the CDP‐gather may be improved to an extent comparable to what occurs on a conventional stacked trace. By using this approach and treating the near‐trace section after iterative stacking as the final section, the seismic resolution can be improved.