A data encoding may be determined by examining the data itself. By examining the data, such as by identifying characteristics of the data, the data encoding may be identified and the substantive information extracted from the data by decoding the data according to the identified data encoding. The data encoding may be identified without extra control or header information separate from the encoded data itself. The identification of data encoding may be determined by a plurality of detectors examining different characteristics of the data and determining an encoding of the data based on each of those individual characteristics. The output of the detectors may be collected and used to decide the encoding of the data. One example application involves determining if audio data is DSD- or PCM-encoded audio data by examining only the data itself.