The invention relates to a two-dimensional discrete cosine transformation (DCT)/inverse DCT circuit and method. The circuit comprises an input memory, a first multiplexer, a register list, a demultiplexer, a DCT /inverse DCT unit, a second multiplexer and an output memory, wherein the input memory, the first multiplexer, the register list, the demultiplexer, the DCT/inverse DCT unit, the second multiplexer and the output memory are sequentially connected, the DCT/inverse DCT unit comprises a register, a first sum-and-difference operation unit and a second sum-and-difference operation unit, the first sum-and-difference operation unit is used for carrying out sum-and-difference operation on the data in the register for once, the second sum-and-difference operation unit is used for carrying out two sum-and-difference operations on the shifted data in the register, the input ends and output ends of the first sum-and-difference operation unit and the second sum-and-difference operation unit are respectively connected with the register, the register is also connected with the demultiplexer and the second multiplexer. The circuit and the method have the advantage that an adder-subtractor and two shifters are used for replacing a multiplier, the particular coefficients are selected, and then the multiplier with more wasted resources and lower speed is not used in the hardware circuit, so a calculation unit of the hardware can be repetitively used.