An encoding device (200) is comprised of a band dividing unit (201) that divides an input signal (207) into a low frequency signal (208) representing a signal in the lower frequency band and a high frequency signal (209) representing a signal in the higher frequency band, a lower frequency band encoding unit (202) that encodes the low frequency signal (208) and generates a low frequency code (213), a similarity judging unit (203) that judges similarity between the high frequency signal (209) and the low frequency signal (208) and generates switching information (210), "n" higher frequency band encoding units 205 that encode the high frequency signal (209) through respective encoding methods and generate a high frequency code (212), a switching unit (204) that selects one of the higher frequency band encoding units (205) and has the selected higher frequency band encoding unit (205) perform encoding, and a code multiplexing unit (206) that multiplexes the low frequency code (213), the high frequency code (212) and the switching information (210), and generates an output code (214).