In an encoding method that is expected to produce a smaller code amount out of a periodicity-based encoding method and a non-periodicity-based encoding method, the amount of code or an estimated value of the amount of code of an integer value sequence which is derived from an audio signal is obtained while adjusting gain. In the other encoding method, an integer value sequence obtained in this process is substituted to obtain the amount of code or an estimated value of the amount of code of the integer value sequence. The obtained code amounts or estimated values are compared to choose one of the encoding methods and the integer value sequence is encoded using the chosen encoding method to obtain and output an integer signal code.