In this work, anthocyanin of rose residue was microencapsulated, using spray-drying (1:1 (w/w) of GA to MD, the inlet air temperature was170°C, the drying airflow rate was 5.0 m 3 /min, feed rate was 0.36 L/h) and freezedrying (processing 48 h at −52°C, vacuum degree was 0.45 mbar) with gum arabic and maltodextrin as external materials. The total phenolic content (TPC), anthocyanin content (ACN), antioxidant activity, moisture content, water activity (A w), solubility, hygroscopicity, colorimetric property, particle micromorphology and size distribution of the microencapsulated anthocyanin were measured. Thermal degradation kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of ACN extracts and microcapsules in the accelerated model were determined. The spray-dried powder (SDP) presented a spherical shape while the freeze-dried powders (FDP) were in indefinite and laminated structures with more homogeneous distribution. After microencapsulation, the retention rate of TPC and ACN was 86.00% and 75.85% for SDP, 91.44% and 95.12% for FDP, respectively. Both of spray-dried and freeze-dried strategy provided efficient preservation for rose residues, enabling them to have lower moisture content, water activity, significantly higher solubility (P < .05) compared with the rose anthocyanin extracts (RAE), and have highfidelity color that was similar to RAE. Meanwhile, the antioxidant activity of the microcapsules decreased with the deteriorating of bioactive compounds. In the degradation kinetic study of anthocyanin at the temperature 70, 80, 90°C, both FDP and SDP had longer half-life duration, lower absolute value of activation entropy, and better effect of freeze-drying embedding method compared to RAE. Therefore, microencapsulation, especially by freeze-drying method, could efficiently enhance the stability of anthocyanin in rose residue during thermal processing and storage, and thus greatly facilitate the utilization of by-product of rose essential oil.