Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an encoding method for a traffic indication map and a beacon frame, which relate to a communication field, enable a user to know whether there are data cached in an access point or enable a user terminal to know whether to access to a channel, and reduce the quantity of bytes occupied by the traffic indication map in the beacon frame. The encoding method for a traffic indication map provided by the embodiments comprises: controlling whether to display a sub-block bitmap display field in a sub-bitmap by marking at least one bit in a bitmap control field, a sub-block sub-bitmap in the sub-bitmap being used for enabling a user terminal to know whether there are data cached in an access point, or enabling the user terminal to know whether to access to a channel.