diff --git a/common/rfb/Encoder.h b/common/rfb/Encoder.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df50dd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/rfb/Encoder.h
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+/* Copyright (C) 2002-2005 RealVNC Ltd.  All Rights Reserved.
+ * 
+ * This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ * 
+ * This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ * 
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this software; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307,
+ * USA.
+ */
+#ifndef __RFB_ENCODER_H__
+#define __RFB_ENCODER_H__
+
+#include <rfb/Rect.h>
+#include <rfb/encodings.h>
+
+namespace rfb {
+  class SMsgWriter;
+  class Encoder;
+  class ImageGetter;
+  typedef Encoder* (*EncoderCreateFnType)(SMsgWriter*);
+
+  class Encoder {
+  public:
+    virtual ~Encoder();
+
+    virtual void setCompressLevel(int level) {};
+    virtual void setQualityLevel(int level) {};
+    virtual int getNumRects(const Rect &r) { return 1; }
+
+    // writeRect() tries to write the given rectangle.  If it is unable to
+    // write the whole rectangle it returns false and sets actual to the actual
+    // rectangle which was updated.
+    virtual bool writeRect(const Rect& r, ImageGetter* ig, Rect* actual)=0;
+
+    static bool supported(unsigned int encoding);
+    static Encoder* createEncoder(unsigned int encoding, SMsgWriter* writer);
+    static void registerEncoder(unsigned int encoding,
+                                EncoderCreateFnType createFn);
+    static void unregisterEncoder(unsigned int encoding);
+  private:
+    static EncoderCreateFnType createFns[encodingMax+1];
+  };
+
+  class EncoderInit {
+    static int count;
+  public:
+    EncoderInit();
+  };
+
+  static EncoderInit encoderInitObj;
+}
+
+#endif