The process of translating sound into symbols Encoding is the opposite of decoding Spelling requires encoding whereas reading requires decoding (Hall & Moats, 1999)
In general, to produce a string of symbols or numbers corresponding to an input value Particularly on the Internet, to produce a file that can be stored and transmitted using the Internet's usual routines from a file containing a data type the system isn't set up to handle Encoding is necessary because parts of the Internet, such as the mail system and Usenet newsgroups, were set up expecting only text files In order to transmit programs, spreadsheets, and other formatted files that might contain characters not allowed in text, as well as Macintosh files that contain multiple parts (forks), the files must be converted to a form that looks like text You then convert the files back to the original form as you download them, or you use a decoding utility afterwards For PC files and Unix programs, the most popular form of encoding is UUencoding For Macintosh files, it's BinHex To convert an analog signal, such as normal video, to its digital equivalent To "digitize" a signal
The compressing of a file (See "Compression") Encoding converts digital media files into stream-ready files and live feeds into streams Stream encoding adds indexed or "hinted" tracks that tell the streaming server how to package the media for transmission over the network
If you encode a message or some information, you put it into a code or express it in a different form or system of language. The two parties encode confidential data in a form that is not directly readable by the other party decode. to put a message or other information into code decode, decipher decipher