There is provided an encoding apparatus, an encoding method, a decoding apparatus, and a decoding method that make it possible to acquire two-dimensional image data of a viewpoint corresponding to a predetermined display image generation method and depth image data without depending upon the viewpoint upon image pickup. A conversion unit generates, from three-dimensional data of an image pickup object, two-dimensional image data of a plurality of viewpoints corresponding to a predetermined display image generation method and depth image data indicative of a position of each of pixels in a depthwise direction of the image pickup object. An encoding unit encodes the two-dimensional image data and the depth image data generated by the conversion unit. A transmission unit transmits the two-dimensional image data and the depth image data encoded by the encoding unit. The present disclosure can be applied, for example, to an encoding apparatus and so forth.