A point cloud coding method includes obtaining description information of a bounding box size of a to-be-encoded point cloud and a normal axis of a to-be-encoded patch in the to-be-encoded point cloud, where the description information of the bounding box size of the to-be-encoded point cloud and the normal axis of the to-be-encoded patch are used to determine a tangent axis of the to-be-encoded patch and a bitangent axis of the to-be-encoded patch. The point cloud encoding method further includes encoding a syntax element into a bitstream, where the syntax element includes an index of the normal axis of the to-be-encoded patch and information for indicating the description information of the bounding box size of the to-be-encoded point cloud, and the syntax element is used to indicate the tangent axis of the to-be-encoded patch and the bitangent axis of the to-be-encoded patch.