A data transfer apparatus includes a data accumulation unit to accumulate data to be transferred, an encoding matrix storage unit to store an encoding matrix for encoding data of each of a plurality of data sizes, an encoding size determination unit to determine a block of data to be transmitted in descending order of data size based on the data sizes of the data accumulated in the encoding matrix storage unit, an encoding unit to acquire an encoding matrix corresponding to the data size of the determined block form the encoding size determination unit and encode data accumulated in the data accumulation unit for each block using the acquired encoding matrix, a packet generation unit to generate a packet by adding encoding information about the encoding matrix used for encoding the encoded data, and a transmission unit to transmit the generated packet.