Beamforming and precoding

Hello experts, please anyone can give me clarification on the difference between precoding and beamforming,

The precoding matrix determines how the individual data streams (called layers in LTE ) are mapped to the antennas. They are applicable to closed loop transmission modes. • Transmission Mode-4:Closed Loop Spatial Multiplexing

Beamforming is a technique that focuses a wireless signal towards a specific receiving device, rather than having the signal spread in all directions from a broadcast antenna, as it normally would. The resulting more direct connection is faster and more reliable than it would be without beamforming.

Thank you for your responce, so like Precoding is a function applied to data before ofdm signal generation block, and beamforming is a function applied to the signal issued from ofdm signal generation block, correct me please if I am wrong,

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Hi, Do we need to do precoding before applying beamforming to multiple-layer data, say 16-layer data?