Disclosed herein is a method of encoding and/or decoding data for optical data transmission along a transmission link, as well as corresponding transmitters and receivers. The data is encoded based on an adaptive constellation diagram in a 2-D plane, said constellation diagram including a first and a second pair of symbols, wherein the symbols of the first pair of symbols are located at opposite sides of the origin of the 2-D plane at a first distance di from each other, and wherein the symbols of the second pair of symbols are located at opposite sides of the origin of the 2-D plane at a second distance d2 from each other. The method comprises a step of adapting the constellation diagram by varying the ratio of the first and second distances d1, d2 such as to minimize or nearly minimize a bit error rate in the transmitted data.