To provide an encoding method and a device for suppressing a low frequency component without reducing encoding efficiency, and an optical disk recording method and a device.

In encoding of a present encoding data word, the best redundant signal for the present encoding data word is generated by referring (look ahead) to a data word in which encoding is performed afterward, and the present encoding data word is encoded using the redundant signal. Also, both of a regular substitution code and an estimation substitution code are used and look ahead determination algorithm for changing length of a word of a data segment depending on the occurrence of estimation of a substitution word is used, and thus a low frequency component included in the encoding data is more effectively suppressed without reducing encoding efficiency.