System and method for data processing and transformation using reference data structures

A system and method for highly efficient encoding of data that includes extended functionality for asymmetric encoding/decoding and network policy enforcement. In the case of asymmetric encoding/decoding the original data is encoded by an encoder according to a codebook and sent to a decoder, but the output of the decoder depends on data manipulation rules applied at the decoding stage to transform the decoded data into a different data set from the original data. In the case of network policy enforcement, a behavior appendix into the codebook, such that the encoder and/or decoder at each node of the network comply with network behavioral rules, limits, and policies during encoding and decoding.