diff --git a/examples/parquet_write.rs b/examples/parquet_write.rs
index ad5487ebfa1..ecbbe486f24 100644
--- a/examples/parquet_write.rs
+++ b/examples/parquet_write.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ use arrow2::{
     datatypes::{Field, Schema},
     error::Result,
     io::parquet::write::{
-        CompressionOptions, Encoding, FileWriter, RowGroupIterator, Version, WriteOptions,
+        transverse, CompressionOptions, Encoding, FileWriter, RowGroupIterator, Version,
+        WriteOptions,
     },
 };
 
@@ -20,12 +21,13 @@ fn write_batch(path: &str, schema: Schema, columns: Chunk<Arc<dyn Array>>) -> Re
 
     let iter = vec![Ok(columns)];
 
-    let row_groups = RowGroupIterator::try_new(
-        iter.into_iter(),
-        &schema,
-        options,
-        vec![vec![Encoding::Plain]],
-    )?;
+    let encodings = schema
+        .fields
+        .iter()
+        .map(|f| transverse(&f.data_type, |_| Encoding::Plain))
+        .collect();
+
+    let row_groups = RowGroupIterator::try_new(iter.into_iter(), &schema, options, encodings)?;
 
     // Create a new empty file
     let file = File::create(path)?;
diff --git a/src/io/parquet/read/deserialize/mod.rs b/src/io/parquet/read/deserialize/mod.rs
index d252d6ac781..cfc5f2034df 100644
--- a/src/io/parquet/read/deserialize/mod.rs
+++ b/src/io/parquet/read/deserialize/mod.rs
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ where
                 .map(|f| {
                     let mut init = init.clone();
                     init.push(InitNested::Struct(field.is_nullable));
-                    let n = n_columns(f);
+                    let n = n_columns(&f.data_type);
                     let columns = columns.drain(columns.len() - n..).collect();
                     let types = types.drain(types.len() - n..).collect();
                     columns_to_iter_recursive(columns, types, f.clone(), init, chunk_size)
@@ -304,26 +304,27 @@ where
     })
 }
 
-fn n_columns(field: &Field) -> usize {
+/// Returns the number of (parquet) columns that a [`DataType`] contains.
+fn n_columns(data_type: &DataType) -> usize {
     use crate::datatypes::PhysicalType::*;
-    match field.data_type.to_physical_type() {
+    match data_type.to_physical_type() {
         Null | Boolean | Primitive(_) | Binary | FixedSizeBinary | LargeBinary | Utf8
         | Dictionary(_) | LargeUtf8 => 1,
         List | FixedSizeList | LargeList => {
-            let a = field.data_type().to_logical_type();
+            let a = data_type.to_logical_type();
             if let DataType::List(inner) = a {
-                n_columns(inner)
+                n_columns(&inner.data_type)
             } else if let DataType::LargeList(inner) = a {
-                n_columns(inner)
+                n_columns(&inner.data_type)
             } else if let DataType::FixedSizeList(inner, _) = a {
-                n_columns(inner)
+                n_columns(&inner.data_type)
             } else {
                 unreachable!()
             }
         }
         Struct => {
-            if let DataType::Struct(fields) = field.data_type.to_logical_type() {
-                fields.iter().map(n_columns).sum()
+            if let DataType::Struct(fields) = data_type.to_logical_type() {
+                fields.iter().map(|inner| n_columns(&inner.data_type)).sum()
             } else {
                 unreachable!()
             }
diff --git a/src/io/parquet/write/mod.rs b/src/io/parquet/write/mod.rs
index 7e2068cd06e..e29c3022fd1 100644
--- a/src/io/parquet/write/mod.rs
+++ b/src/io/parquet/write/mod.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ mod boolean;
 mod dictionary;
 mod file;
 mod fixed_len_bytes;
-//mod levels;
 mod nested;
 mod pages;
 mod primitive;
@@ -448,3 +447,60 @@ fn array_to_page_nested(
     }
     .map(EncodedPage::Data)
 }
+
+fn transverse_recursive<T, F: Fn(&DataType) -> T + Clone>(
+    data_type: &DataType,
+    map: F,
+    encodings: &mut Vec<T>,
+) {
+    use crate::datatypes::PhysicalType::*;
+    match data_type.to_physical_type() {
+        Null | Boolean | Primitive(_) | Binary | FixedSizeBinary | LargeBinary | Utf8
+        | Dictionary(_) | LargeUtf8 => encodings.push(map(data_type)),
+        List | FixedSizeList | LargeList => {
+            let a = data_type.to_logical_type();
+            if let DataType::List(inner) = a {
+                transverse_recursive(&inner.data_type, map, encodings)
+            } else if let DataType::LargeList(inner) = a {
+                transverse_recursive(&inner.data_type, map, encodings)
+            } else if let DataType::FixedSizeList(inner, _) = a {
+                transverse_recursive(&inner.data_type, map, encodings)
+            } else {
+                unreachable!()
+            }
+        }
+        Struct => {
+            if let DataType::Struct(fields) = data_type.to_logical_type() {
+                for field in fields {
+                    transverse_recursive(&field.data_type, map.clone(), encodings)
+                }
+            } else {
+                unreachable!()
+            }
+        }
+        Union => todo!(),
+        Map => todo!(),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Transverses the `data_type` up to its (parquet) columns and returns a vector of
+/// items based on `map`.
+/// This is used to assign an [`Encoding`] to every parquet column based on the columns' type (see example)
+/// # Example
+/// ```
+/// use arrow2::io::parquet::write::{transverse, Encoding};
+/// use arrow2::datatypes::{DataType, Field};
+///
+/// let dt = DataType::Struct(vec![
+///     Field::new("a", DataType::Int64, true),
+///     Field::new("b", DataType::List(Box::new(Field::new("item", DataType::Int32, true))), true),
+/// ]);
+///
+/// let encodings = transverse(&dt, |dt| Encoding::Plain);
+/// assert_eq!(encodings, vec![Encoding::Plain, Encoding::Plain]);
+/// ```
+pub fn transverse<T, F: Fn(&DataType) -> T + Clone>(data_type: &DataType, map: F) -> Vec<T> {
+    let mut encodings = vec![];
+    transverse_recursive(data_type, map, &mut encodings);
+    encodings
+}