Block-Based Colour Image Steganography Using Smart Pixel-Adjustment

By adjusting the pixel-value of a host block, we design an effective steganographic method for color images. Specifically, based on a smart pixel-adjustment policy with two averages of the block, a secret message can be embedded in a host image without arising visual distortion. Experiments indicate that the perceived quality generated by the proposed method is good while the payload is larger than existing techniques. Moreover, the proposed method has a merit of maintaining a certain degree of robustness. Namely, the marked images generated by our method are tolerant of manipulations such as color quantization, equalized, edge sharpening, inversion, JPEG, JPEG2000, noise additions, pixel-truncation, winding, and zigzagging. This robustness is rarely found in the traditional techniques for color image steganography.