A bit interleaving method involves applying a bit permutation process to a QC-LDPC codeword made up of N cyclic blocks each including Q bits, and dividing the codeword after the permutation process into a plurality of constellation words each including M bits, the codeword being divided into F×N/M folding sections, each of the constellation words being associated with one of the F×N/M folding sections, and the bit permutation process being applied such that each of the constellation words includes F bits from each of M/F different cyclic blocks in a given folding section associated with a given constellation word.