An encoding method may comprise obtaining a residue corresponding to a
difference between the original image and a prediction image with respect
to each component of the original image, encoding the residue of a
predetermined component of the original image, restoring the encoded
residue of the predetermined component and transforming the restored
residue into a predetermined value including the restored residue value,
and encoding prediction residues corresponding to differences between
each of residues of components of the original image, which are not
encoded, and the residue, which is restored and transformed into the
predetermined value. Since prediction residues are encoded and decoded
using correlations between residues of image components and image
components, data amount is highly reduced. Also, since there is no
quality loss in a picture generated by directly encoding an R-G-B image
without transforming it into a Y-Cr-Cb image, high quality image
information is obtained.