The various methods and devices described herein relate to devices which, in at least certain embodiments, may include a method of decoding data or a data stream in a file, which may include checking for a first data portion of a plurality of data portions in the file, the first data portion having a first data value, reading in data from another data portion of the plurality of data portions, decoding or decompressing the data, performing a checksum operation on the decoded data if the first data portion having the first data value is not detected, and skipping a checksum operation on the decoded data if the first data portion having the first data value is detected. In the embodiment, a checksum operation on encoded data may also be skipped. In an embodiment, the first data value may include information or instructions about how a decoder may decode the data and may also include a tag or identifier.