There is provided encoding and decoding methods for encoding and decoding of object based audio. An exemplary decoding method described is for reconstructing audio objects based on a data stream, wherein the data stream corresponds to a plurality of time frames, wherein the data stream comprises a plurality of side information instances, wherein the data stream further comprises, for each side information instance, transition data including two independently assignable portions which in combination define a point in time to begin a transition from a current reconstruction setting to a desired reconstruction setting specified by the side information instance, and a point in time to complete the transition.