Comparative analysis of steganographic algorithms within compressed video domain

Steganographic techniques with varying degrees of embedding capacity, perceptual transparency, and security are presented. These techniques have been developed to protect privileged or confidential information restricted to public access and to replace cryptography methods. In this study, three embedding algorithms, namely, least significant bit insertion, bit-plane complexity segmentation, and enhanced version of pixel value difference (EPVD) were implemented and analyzed in terms of the main steganography issues (payload, invisibility, and security) using a different proper performance metrics. This study was motivated by the minimal research focus accorded to hiding data in compression domain for the class of video-based embedding methods. Therefore, analyzing steganographic algorithms is generally based on hiding information in the quantized AC-Coefficients of the frames during the MPEG-2 compression process. Simulation results reveal that EPVD provides better embedded payload and acceptable visual quality, but lower PSNR value.