The present document relates to the field of encoding and decoding of audio. In particular, the present document relates to encoding and decoding of an audio scene comprising audio objects. A method (400) for encoding metadata relating to a plurality of audio objects (106a) of an audio scene (102) is described. The metadata comprises a first set (114, 314) of metadata and a second set (104) of metadata. The first and second sets (104, 114, 314) of metadata comprise one or more data elements which are indicative of a property of an audio object (106a) from the plurality of audio objects (106a) and/or of a downmix signal (112) derived from the plurality of audio objects (106a). The method (400) comprises identifying (401) a redundant data element which is common to the first and second sets (104, 114, 314) of metadata. Furthermore, the method comprises encoding (402) the redundant data element of the first set (114, 314) of metadata by referring to a redundant data element of a set (104) of metadata external for the first set (114, 314) of metadata.