fix: make a sensible encoding api #4751

Job	Run time
doctest	2m 55s
test ubuntu-latest stable --no-default-features	2m 18s
check no_std	1m 12s
clippy	1m 25s
test ubuntu-latest stable	2m 30s
test ubuntu-latest stable --all-features	2m 48s
feature-checks	8m 11s
test ubuntu-latest nightly --no-default-features	1m 36s
wasm-unknown	2m 15s
test ubuntu-latest nightly	1m 35s
wasm-wasi	3m 1s
test ubuntu-latest nightly --all-features	2m 26s
test ubuntu-latest 1.79 --no-default-features	1m 27s
cfg-check	36s
test ubuntu-latest 1.79	1m 40s
test windows-latest stable --no-default-features	5m 43s
docs	1m 11s
test windows-latest stable	6m 54s
test windows-latest stable --all-features	7m 55s
fmt	14s
test windows-latest nightly --no-default-features	3m 43s
test windows-latest nightly	3m 54s
test windows-latest nightly --all-features	5m 41s
test windows-latest 1.79 --no-default-features	3m 56s
test windows-latest 1.79	3m 33s
	1h 18m 39s

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