This invention relates to a method of encoding a path in layered form so as to allow partial decoding and progressive rendering while decoding. The path is made of an original sequence of original draw commands, each corresponding to an original portion of a drawing. The method of encoding includes transforming at least one original draw command into an approximating draw command according to a geometrical approximation of the corresponding original portion of a drawing, to obtain a reduced sequence, encoding the reduced sequence into an encoded reduced sequence, and encoding a reconstruction information set representing the difference between the reduced sequence and the original sequence.