Abstract: A method of encoding an audio signal onto and decoding an audio signal from a video signal wherein, in the encoding stage, successive portions of the audio signal are sampled, time compressed and inserted in analogue form into predetermined lines in the vertical interval of each field of the video signal. Also, distortion cancelling signals (which are generated as inverted forms of the time compressed audio signal portions) are inserted in analogue form into further predetermined lines in the vertical interval of each field of the video signal. In the subsequent decoding stage, the successive audio signal portions and the distortion cancelling signals are separated from the video signal, and associated ones of the audio signal portions and the distortion cancelling signals are added after inverting either the audio signal portions or the distortion cancelling signals in order that any perturbation present in both signals will cancel to zero.