A point cloud encoding and decoding method including: obtaining encoding limit information that comprises a group quantity limit threshold; obtaining a transform coefficient sequence of point cloud points based on the encoding limit information, where the point cloud points are comprised in a point cloud group that has a quantity less than or equal to the group quantity limit threshold, and where the transform coefficient sequence is obtained by sorting transform coefficients of the point cloud points; and encoding the transform coefficient sequence to obtain a point cloud group bitstream that corresponds to the point cloud group.