Explain the difference between encoding and decoding?

Answer 1

opening/playing/reading/watching a file (Decoding) and making a file (Encoding)

there are many different ways to read/write a bunch of "1's" and "0's." A files extention (.wav; .mp3; .iso; etc) explains how that file should be read as/written as. For example, this paragraph could be written in Spanish and generally say the same thing with the same general letters.

source:

http://www.free-codecs.com/guides/Whats_the_difference_between_decoding_encoding_recoding_and_transcoding.htm Encoding
Creating a video file in a special format (e.g. DivX, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, ...) - You´ll need a DivX Encoder in order to be able to create DivX files and a MPEG-2 Encoder in order to be able to create MPEG-2 videos. You´ll need these encoders for transcoding and recoding http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Special:Wysiwyg?tid=wysiwyg# as well.

• Decoding
Simply opening and watching video files with a http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Special:Wysiwyg?tid=wysiwyg# (e.g. a DivX decoder for opening DivX files or a MPEG-1 Decoder for opening a MPEG-1 video file).