Encoding is performed by dividing a quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) parity check matrix into a first sub-matrix and a second sub-matrix. The first sub-matrix includes a plurality of circulant vectors and the plurality of circulant vectors is associated with a circulant size. Input data is received having a length which is a product of an integer multiplier and the circulant size. A first stage of multi-stage LDPC encoding is performed using the input data and a subset of the plurality of circulant vectors; the number of circulant vectors in the subset equals the integer multiplier.