Virtual lane forward error correction in multilane distribution

A system and method are provided for generating virtual lane (VL) forward error correction (FEC) overhead (OH) in a communication multi-lane distribution (MLD) protocol transmitter, and for recovering data words from virtual lanes with FEC OH in an MLD protocol receiver. The transmission method accepts an Optical Transport Network (OTN) frame with n consecutively ordered payload chunks of data words, at a first data rate. Each payload chunk is assigned to a virtual lane data word (VLDW) in an MLD frame of n consecutively ordered VLDWs. The assignment order of payload chunks to VLDWs is rotated at the start of each MLD frame. VLDWs are joined into VLDW groups, where each VLDW group includes at least one VLDW. FEC blocks are calculated for VLDWs, creating ordered VL codewords (VLCWs). Then, the VLCWs are multiplexed to maintain a consistent assignment of VLCW order to physical transmission lanes and transmitted.