An encoding system, comprising: a processor; and a memory device storing instructions executable by the processor, the instructions being executable by the processor to perform a method for encoding an audio signal, the method comprising: receiving a digital audio signal; parsing the digital audio signal into a plurality of frames, each frame including a specified number of audio samples; performing a transform of the audio samples of each frame to produce a plurality of frequency-domain coefficients for each frame; partitioning the plurality of frequency-domain coefficients for each frame into a plurality of bands for each frame; allocating a specified number of bits for each band in each frame; computing a difference value for each band in each frame, the difference value representing a difference between the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame and a corresponding estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; encoding a bit stream to include: data representing the digital audio signal, and data representing the difference values, but not data directly representing the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame; and outputting the bit stream; wherein the method further comprises: computing a quantized norm of each band of each frame, each quantized norm having a value derived from frequency-domain coefficients in the band and quantized to equal one of a plurality of specified values; based on the quantized norms, determining the estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; and encoding data representing the quantized norms into the bit stream. a processor; and a memory device storing instructions executable by the processor, the instructions being executable by the processor to perform a method for encoding an audio signal, the method comprising: receiving a digital audio signal; parsing the digital audio signal into a plurality of frames, each frame including a specified number of audio samples; performing a transform of the audio samples of each frame to produce a plurality of frequency-domain coefficients for each frame; partitioning the plurality of frequency-domain coefficients for each frame into a plurality of bands for each frame; allocating a specified number of bits for each band in each frame; computing a difference value for each band in each frame, the difference value representing a difference between the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame and a corresponding estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; encoding a bit stream to include: data representing the digital audio signal, and data representing the difference values, but not data directly representing the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame; and outputting the bit stream; wherein the method further comprises: computing a quantized norm of each band of each frame, each quantized norm having a value derived from frequency-domain coefficients in the band and quantized to equal one of a plurality of specified values; based on the quantized norms, determining the estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; and encoding data representing the quantized norms into the bit stream. receiving a digital audio signal; parsing the digital audio signal into a plurality of frames, each frame including a specified number of audio samples; performing a transform of the audio samples of each frame to produce a plurality of frequency-domain coefficients for each frame; partitioning the plurality of frequency-domain coefficients for each frame into a plurality of bands for each frame; allocating a specified number of bits for each band in each frame; computing a difference value for each band in each frame, the difference value representing a difference between the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame and a corresponding estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; encoding a bit stream to include: data representing the digital audio signal, and data representing the difference values, but not data directly representing the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame; and data representing the digital audio signal, and data representing the difference values, but not data directly representing the number of bits allocated for each band in each frame; and outputting the bit stream; wherein the method further comprises: computing a quantized norm of each band of each frame, each quantized norm having a value derived from frequency-domain coefficients in the band and quantized to equal one of a plurality of specified values; based on the quantized norms, determining the estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; and encoding data representing the quantized norms into the bit stream. computing a quantized norm of each band of each frame, each quantized norm having a value derived from frequency-domain coefficients in the band and quantized to equal one of a plurality of specified values; based on the quantized norms, determining the estimated number of bits allocatable for each band in each frame; and encoding data representing the quantized norms into the bit stream.