The present invention provides an optical communication method, comprising: performing modulation on the obtained bit stream data to generate modulated signals; performing differential encoding on the modulated signals to generate differentially encoded signals; converting the differentially encoded signals into electrical signals; and mapping the electrical signals onto optical carriers to generate optical signals for transmission. With the present invention, it is possible to enhance the system's capability of resisting inter-carrier interference without decreasing spectrum efficiency, hence improving the tolerance of existing optical communication systems towards laser linewidth, fast-changing PMD, optical fiber nonlinearity, inter-channel interference and other damages, greatly enhancing system performances.