LOSSLESS CODING METHOD

A lossless coding method comprises obtaining an energy, in units of a band, from transform coefficients of an audio signal; selecting one of a first coding method and a second coding method for a differential quantization index of the energy; and coding the differential quantization index by using the selected coding method. The method selects the first coding method when at least one differential quantization index of all bands excepting a first differential quantization index is not represented in [-32, 31] or when the first differential quantization index is not represented in [-46, 17]; and selects a coding method where a smaller number of bits is consumed. The first coding method includes a pulse mode and a scale mode using Huffman coding. If the scale mode is selected then a first group of bits is coded by Huffman coding and a second group of bits is packed.