Does Reed-Solomon error correction work in an instance where there is a dropped byte (or multiple dropped bytes)? For example, let's say it's a (12,8) Reed Solomon code, so theoretically it should be able to correct 2 errors (or 4 erasures if the position is known). But, what happens if only 11 (or 10) bytes are received and one doesn't know which byte(s) were dropped? Will Reed-Solomon error correction work? Thanks, Ben RS decoding for erasures requires the position of the symbols "dropped" or lost. The kind of error you're talking about is due to phase distortion. You can make it work by