A magnetic encoder apparatus is presented that includes a plurality of magnetic sensor elements (e.g. Hall sensors) for reading an associated magnetic scale that produces a periodically repeating magnetic pattern. The plurality of magnetic sensor elements produce a plurality of sensor signals and an analyzer is provided for analyzing the plurality of sensor signals to provide a measure of the position of the magnetic sensor elements relative to the associated magnetic scale. The analyzer is arranged to use the plurality of sensor signals to assess the period of the periodically repeating magnetic pattern sensed by the plurality of magnetic sensor elements. In this manner, the requirement to carefully match the period of the sensor elements with the periodically repeating magnetic pattern of the associated magnetic scale is avoided.