The decoding apparatus in the present invention includes a memory operable to hold encoded data representing one of a compressed sound and a compressed image, a memory read-out unit operable to sequentially read out the encoded data from said memory, a match determining circuit operable to determine whether or not data matching a specific bit sequence exists in the encoded data read out by said memory read-out unit, a deleting circuit operable to delete a part of the specific bit sequence from the encoded data read out from said memory, when said match determining circuit determines that the specific bit sequence exists, and a decoding circuit operable to decode the post-deletion encoded data.