Encryption for High Efficiency Video Coding with video adaptation capabilities

In this paper, we describe encryption possibilities for the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard under development. Bitstream elements which maintain HEVC compatibility after encryption are listed and their impact on video adaptation is described. From this list, three bitstream elements are selected, namely intra prediction mode difference, motion vector difference sign, and residual sign. These elements provide good protection of the video information and result in 0.0% Bjontegaard delta bitrate increase because of their equal probability entropy encoding property.