A decoding method and a decoding apparatus is provided. The decoding apparatus includes a control unit, a lookup unit, an arithmetic unit, a first switch and a second switch. The control unit receives a part of a bin string. The lookup unit finds out a flag, a length and an indicator, corresponding to the part of the bin string, from a lookup table according to the part of the bin string and a node, and judges whether the flag is equal to a predetermined value. The arithmetic unit finds out a syntax element symbol corresponding to the bin string according to a basic syntax element symbol. The first switch connects the control unit to the lookup unit or the arithmetic unit. The second switch outputs the indicator as the basic syntax element symbol to the arithmetic unit or feeds the indicator as a next node back to the lookup unit.