变换编码或称转换编码，系指欲编码之数值经过一数学转换后映射至另一值域后再进行编码处理。常用于音频信号编码和图像/视频信号编码。变换编码经常与量化一起使用，进行有损数据压缩。

一个很早的例子是彩色电视机。由于人眼对亮度的敏感性远远大于对色度的敏感性，所以将最初的基于RGB颜色空间的色彩转换到YCbCr空间，并利用较低的分辨率来表示色差（Cb和Cr）信号（也属于某种量化）。这使得彩色电视机可以使用与黑白电视机相同的约6M的带宽来传送，而人眼感觉不到太大差别。实际上一般的彩色电视机的亮度分辨率约为350扫描线，而Cb信号约为50线（等效值），Cr信号约为150线（等效值）。复杂的人眼系统能够在这样的基础上重建完整的彩色图像。

Transform coding is a type of data compression for "natural" data like audio signals or photographic images. The transformation is typically lossy, resulting in a lower quality copy of the original input.

In transform coding, knowledge of the application is used to choose information to discard, thereby lowering its bandwidth. The remaining information can then be compressed via a variety of methods. When the output is decoded, the result may not be identical to the original input, but is expected to be close enough for the purpose of the application.