The best replacement for encoding is decoding.

The best alternatives to encoding are rated as following:
★★★★★  decoding
★★★★  encryption
★★★  transcoding
★  compression
★  decoding reading
★  decoding communication
★  retrieval
★  escaping
★  encrypting
★  2 pass encoding
★  rendering
★  charset
★  code page
  escaping of output
  serialization
  coding
  character set
  software encoding
  modulation
  two pass encoding
  hardware encoding
  hashing
  retrieval memory
  manchester encoding
  locale
  visual encoding

Your alternative for encoding is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about encoding, one probably shouldn't forget about handbrake.

Other search terms related to encoding and their ratings are:
★★★★★ handbrake
★★★ virtualdub
★★★ divx
★★★ ffmpeg
★★ subtitles
★ nero
★ h 264
★ utf-8
You have in mind a companion for encoding and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of encoding in all years. Click on graph for more.
encoding
decoding
encryption