A method for decoding a hybrid backward-compatible signal via computer processor hardware, said method comprising the steps of: parsing by means of a parser logic of said computer processor hardware a data stream into first portions of data encoded in accordance with a legacy format and tagged with a first unique identifier value and second portions of data encoded according to a hierarchical encoding format and tagged with a second unique identifier value; decoding in a first decoder the first portions of encoded data so as to obtain a first rendition of said signal at a first level of quality, wherein said method comprises the steps of: upsampling said first rendition of said signal at a first level of quality so as to obtain a preliminary second rendition of said signal at a second level of quality; decoding in a second decoder the second portions of encoded data so as to obtain reconstruction data, the reconstruction data specifying how to modify said preliminary second rendition of the signal in order to obtain a second rendition of said signal at a second level of quality having a higher quality than said first rendition of the signal; and applying the reconstruction data to the preliminary second rendition of the signal to produce said second rendition of the signal at a second level of quality, wherein the reconstruction data includes a hierarchy of residual data encoded in accordance with one or more display element resolutions, wherein the first portions of encoded data are decoded in accordance with said legacy format, and wherein the reconstruction data derived from the second portions of encoded data are decoded in accordance with said hierarchical encoding format. parsing by means of a parser logic of said computer processor hardware a data stream into first portions of data encoded in accordance with a legacy format and tagged with a first unique identifier value and second portions of data encoded according to a hierarchical encoding format and tagged with a second unique identifier value; decoding in a first decoder the first portions of encoded data so as to obtain a first rendition of said signal at a first level of quality, wherein said method comprises the steps of: upsampling said first rendition of said signal at a first level of quality so as to obtain a preliminary second rendition of said signal at a second level of quality; decoding in a second decoder the second portions of encoded data so as to obtain reconstruction data, the reconstruction data specifying how to modify said preliminary second rendition of the signal in order to obtain a second rendition of said signal at a second level of quality having a higher quality than said first rendition of the signal; and applying the reconstruction data to the preliminary second rendition of the signal to produce said second rendition of the signal at a second level of quality, upsampling said first rendition of said signal at a first level of quality so as to obtain a preliminary second rendition of said signal at a second level of quality; decoding in a second decoder the second portions of encoded data so as to obtain reconstruction data, the reconstruction data specifying how to modify said preliminary second rendition of the signal in order to obtain a second rendition of said signal at a second level of quality having a higher quality than said first rendition of the signal; and applying the reconstruction data to the preliminary second rendition of the signal to produce said second rendition of the signal at a second level of quality, wherein the reconstruction data includes a hierarchy of residual data encoded in accordance with one or more display element resolutions, wherein the first portions of encoded data are decoded in accordance with said legacy format, and wherein the reconstruction data derived from the second portions of encoded data are decoded in accordance with said hierarchical encoding format.