Performance Analysis of LSB, DCT, and DWT for Digital Watermarking

Application using Steganography

Conference Paper · January 2023

DOI: 10.1109/EESCO.2023.7253657

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International Conference on Electrical, Electronics, Signals, Communication and Optimization (EESCO) - 2023

Performance Analysis of LSB, DCT, and DWT for

Digital Watermarking Application using
Steganography

Saravanan Chandran, Ph.D, MIEEE, Pratim Hait,

Computer Center, Computer Center,
National Institute of Technology, MAKAUT
Durgapur, India. Kolkata, India.
dr.cs1973@gmail.com rikhait511@gmail.com

Abstract—Digital watermarking have been used for maintaining
copyright information of the digital media for a decade. Digital
watermarking is a technique used for embedding copyright
information in the media files. The media file could be an image,
an audio, a video, or a text. Steganography have been used in the
Digital watermarking application. Steganography has become
more important due to the exponential growth of communication
of potential computer information on the internet.
Steganography differs from cryptography, such that
cryptography hides the contents of secret message, whereas,
steganography is about hiding the message in media effectively.
This research article gives an overview of steganography, its
applications, and difference from cryptography. This research
article analyses performance of the Least Significant Bit (LSB),
Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), and Discrete Wavelet
Transform (DWT).
Keywords—Steganography, Steganalysis, LSB, DCT, DWT, PSNR,
Histogram.
authenticate the originality of the media. There are various
techniques available to implement steganography namely
three well known techniques are the Least Significant Bit
(LSB), the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and the Discrete
Wavelet Transform (DWT). There are two types of domains in
which steganography is implemented i.e. spatial domain and
frequency domain [6]. In spatial domain, processing is applied
directly on the pixel values of the image whereas in frequency
domain, pixel values are transformed and then processing is
applied on the transformed coefficients. Steganography is used
to covert communication. The secret image which is
communicated to the destination is embedded into the cover
image to derive the stego image.
Cover File (Image,
Audio, Video)
Steganography Stego file

I. INTRODUCTION Data to hide (text,

Watermarking is a concept which is used to protect the image, audio, video)
document by embedding copyright information. The copyright
information could be either visible or invisible in the media. In Figure 1: Process of hiding data
general, watermark appears behind the original document and
will not harm the original content of the document [1]. Digital
watermarking is a process in which copyright information is Steganography
embedded in the form of a text, or an image, or an audio, or a
video in the particular media[8]. Watermarking have been
used for protecting the digital media from illegal access by the Spatial Domain Frequency Domain
unauthorized community. Many techniques have been
introduced such as cryptography, watermarking, and
DCT
steganography to protect data from unauthorized groups. The LSB
term steganography is derived from the Greek words
“steganos” (covert) and graphia (writing) [15]. Data DWT
encryption and decryption algorithms have been used in the
steganography for embedding and extracting the copyright Figure 2: Technique of steganography
information. Encryption algorithms used in the sender side and
decryption algorithms used in the receiver side [1]. The II. LITERATURE SURVEY
copyright information is embedded in the media to hide the Deshpande Neeta, et al. have proposed the Least
copyright information from the unauthorized world. On Significant Bit (LSB) embedding technique which hides the
receiver side, the copyright information is decrypted to

978-1-4799-7678-2/15/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE

data using the least significant bits of the cover image which is
unable to notice by the naked human eye [1]. K. B. Raja, et al.
proposed a challenging task of transferring embedded
information to the destination without being detected. In this
paper, the image based steganography utilized the Least
Significant Bit (LSB), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), and
compression techniques on raw images to enhance the security
of the payload [3]. Vijay Kumar Sharma, et al. have worked
upon a new steganography algorithm for 8 bit grayscale or 24
bit color image based on logical operation to ensure the
security against the steganalysis attack [4]. Chen Ming, et al.
focused on the steganography tools algorithms [6]. Based on
the analysis of the algorithms, various tools aredivided into
five categories:
Step 1: Spatial domain based steganography tools.
Step 2: Transform domain based steganography tools.
Step 3: Document based steganography tools.
Step 4: File structure based Steganography tools.
Step 5: Other categories.
Aneesh Jain, et al. proposed a scheme which hides data in
bitmap images, in a way that there is almost no perceptible
difference between the original image and this new image and
which is also resistant to JPEG compression [7]. Beenish
Mehboob, et al. discussed the art and science of steganography
in general and proposed a novel technique to hide data in a
colorful image using least significant bit [8]. Hassan
Mathkour, et al. discussed a criteria to analyze and evaluate
the strengths and weaknesses of the presented techniques and
a more robust steganography technique has been developed
that takes advantages of the strengths and avoids the
limitations [9]. Another approach combines spread spectrum
communication, error control coding and image processing to
hide information in images [11]. K. B.Shiva Kumar, et al.
discussed the important issue of modern communication
establishes secret communication while using public channel
and is achieved by steganography. In this research paper,
Coherent Steganography technique using Segmentation and
Discrete Cosine Transform(CSSDCT) was proposed. The
cover image was divided into 8 x 8 blocks and DCT was
applied on each block. The number of payload MSB bits were
embedded into DCT coefficients of the cover image
coherently based on the values of DCT coefficients. It was
observed that the proposed algorithm had better PSNR,
Security, and capacity compared with the existing other
research techniques [12]. T. Narasimmalou, et al. proposed an
optimal discrete wavelet transform(DWT) based
steganography. Experiments shown that the peak signal noise
ratio (PSNR) generated by the proposed method was better
[14]. Arvind Kumar, et al.discusses how digital images can be
used as a carrier to hide Messages and also analyses the
performance of some of the steganography tools [16]. Vijay
Kumar, et al. intends to observe the effect of embedding the
secret message in different bands such as CH, CV and CD on
the performance of stego image in terms of Peak Signal to
Noise Ratio (PSNR). Experimentation has been done using six
different attacks. Experimental results reveal that the error
block replacement with diagonal detail coefficients (CD) gives
better PSNR than doing so with other coefficients [17].
III. ALGORITHMS OF STEGANOGRAPHY
A. The LSB based Steganography encoding algorithm [12]
had been developed as follows,
Step 1: Read the cover image and text message which is to be
hidden in the cover image.
Step 2: Convert the color image into grey image.
Step 3: Convert text message in binary.
Step 4: Calculate LSB of each pixels of cover image.
Step 5: Replace LSB of cover image with each bit of secret
message one by one.
Step 6: Write stego image
B. The decoding algorithm [12] had been developed as
follows,
Step 1: Read the stego image.
Step 2: Calculate LSB of each pixels of stego image.
Step 3: Retrieve bits and convert each 8 bit into character.
C. The DCT Based Steganography encoding algorithm [12]
had been developed as follows,
Step 1: Read cover image.
Step 2: Read secret message and convert it in binary.
Step 3: The cover image is broken into 8 x 8 block of pixels.
Step 4: Working from left to right, top to bottom subtract 128
in each block of pixels.
Step 5: DCT is applied to each block.
Step 6: Each block is compressed through quantization table.
Step 7: Calculate LSB of each DC coefficient and replace with
each bit of secret message.
Step 8: Write stego image.
D. The decoding algorithm [12] had been developed as
follows,
Step 1: Read stego image
Step 2: Stego image is broken into 8 x 8 block of pixels.
Step 3: Working from left to right, top to bottom subtract 128
in each block of pixels.
Step 4: DCT is applied to each block.
Step 5: Each block is compressed through quantization table.
Step 6: Calculate LSB of each DC coefficient
E. The DWT Based Steganography encoding algorithm [5]
had been developed as follows,
Step 1: Read the cover image and text message which is to be
hidden in the cover image.
Step 2: Convert the text message into binary. Apply 2D Haar
transform on the cover image.
Step 3: Obtain the horizontal and vertical filtering coefficients
of the cover image. Cover image is added with data bits for
DWT coefficients.
Step 4: Obtain stego image. Step 5: Calculate the Mean square
Error (MSE), Peak signal to noise
ratio (PSNR) of the stego image.
F. The decoding Algorithm [5] had been developed as
follows,
Step 1: Read the stego image.
Step 2: Obtain the horizontal and vertical filtering coefficients 01001010
of the cover image. 10010110
Step 3: Extract the message bit by bit and recomposing the 10001100
cover image. 00010100
Step 4: Convert the data into message vector. Compare it with 01010110
original message. 00100111
01000011
IV. STEGANOGRAPHIC SYSTEM On average, only half of the LSBs required to change. The
The Steganographic system comprises of a stego system difference between the cover image and the stego image are
encoder that accepts the cover image, the message to be hardly noticeable to the human eye. However, one of its major
hidden and the optional key to generate the stego image that is limitations is small size of data which can be embedded in
identical to cover image as per the human visual systems such type of images using LSB. LSB is extremely vulnerable
(HVS). The encoder implements the algorithm for to attacks. LSB techniques implemented to 24 bit formats are
steganographic data hiding, it may use substitution technique difficult to detect contrary to 8 bit format [2 & 8]. Another
or transform technique. The cover can be transmitted via a example of LSB technique is: Consider a grid for 3 pixels of a
channel or uploaded to the internet. At the other end the 24 bit image and the number 300 is to be embedded using
decoder works on the stego image with the optional key to LSB technique. The resulting grid is as follows:
extract the hidden message. (01010101 01011100 11011000)
(10110110 11111100 00110100)
(11011110 10110010 10110101)
Message Staganographic Stego Image The following bits are embedded into the above grids.
Encoder 10000011
The embedded grid is as follows:
(01010101 01011100 11011000)
key (10110110 11111100 00110100)
(11011111 10110011 10110101)
Here the number C was embedded into the first 8 bytes of
the grid. Only the 2 bits need to be changed according to the
Recover Steganographic Communication embedded message. On average, only half of the bits in an
Message Decoder channel image need to be modified to hide a secret message using the
maximum cover size.
Figure 3: Steganographic data hiding system
B. Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) method
The LSB, DCT, and DWT are discussed in the following DCT coefficients are used for JPEG compression [10 &
sections. 12]. It separates the image into different parts of importance. It
transforms a signal or image from the spatial domain to the
A. Least Significant Bit (LSB) data hiding
frequency domain. It separates the image into high, middle
In LSB steganography, the least significant bits of the and low frequency components. In low frequency subband,
cover media’s digital data were used to conceal the message. much of the signal energy lies at low frequency which
The simplest of the LSB steganography techniques is LSB contains most important visual parts of the image, while in
replacement. LSB replacement steganography flips the last bit high frequency subband, high frequency components of the
of each of the data values to reflect the message that needs to image are usually removed through compression and noise
be hide. Consider an 8 bit gray scale bitmap image where each attacks [13]. So the secret message is embedded by modifying
pixel is stored as a byte representing a gray scale value. the coefficients of the middle frequency subband, so that the
Suppose the first eight pixels of the original image have the visibility of the image is not affected.
following gray scale values [4]:
11010010
01001010
10010111 C(i,j) C(u,v)
10001100
00010101
01010111
00100110 Figure 4: DCT of an image
01000011
To hide the letter C whose binary value is 10000011, the The general equation for a 1D (N data items) DCT is defined
LSBs of these pixels are replaced to have the following new by the following equation [12]:
grayscale values:
11010011
 N −1  (2i + 1)u  Figure 6: The vertical operation [5]
C (u ) = a(u )  X i cos  (1)
i =0  2N  V. ERROR METRICS
Where u = 1, 2, 3…..N-1. The general equation for a 2D The following two error metrics are used in the
(N × M image) DCT is defined by the following equation [12]: performance analysis.
N − 1 N −1  (2i + 1)u   (2i + 1)v  A. Mean Square Error
C(u, v) = a(v)  a(u)  X cos
  cos  (2)
 2N   2N 
i
i = 0 i =0 It is defined as the square of error between cover image and
Where u, v = 1, 2, 3…..N-1. Here, the input image is of size the stego image. The distortion in the image can be measured
N × M. c (i, j) is the intensity of the pixel in row i and column using MSE [2].
j; C (u, v) is the DCT coefficient in row u and column v of the
DCT matrix. DCT Image is broken into 8x8 blocks of pixels. 
 I1(m, n) − I 2( M , N )
M ,N
2
Working from left to right, top to bottom, DCT is applied to MSE = (3)
each block. Each block is compressed through quantization M N
table to scale the DCT coefficients and message is embedded M and N are the number of rows and column in the input
in DCT coefficients [10]. image.
C. Discrete Wavelet Transform Technique (DWT) B. Peak Signal to Noise Ratio
The Haar DWT is applied in this technique [18]. A It is the ratio of the maximum signal to noise in the stego
2dimensional Haar DWT consists of two operations: One is image [5].
the horizontal operation and the other is the vertical operation. 2
Detailed procedures of a 2D Haar DWT are described below: 256
PSNR = 10 log10 (4)
Step 1: MSE
Scan pixels from left to right in the horizontal direction. PSNR is measured in decibels (dB). PSNR is a good measure
Then, perform the addition and subtraction operations on for comparing restoration results for the same image.
neighboring pixels. Store the sum on the left and the
difference on the right as illustrated in figure 5. Repeat this VI. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
operation until all the rows are processed. The pixel sums The performance analysis of LSB, DCT and DWT
represent the low frequency part (denoted as symbol L) while algorithms are carried out on steganography using PSNR and
the pixel differences represent the high frequency part of the MSE. PSNR computes the peak signal to noise ratio, in
original image (denoted as symbol H). decibels, between the two images. This ratio is used as a
A B C D A+B C+D A -B C-D
quality measurement between two images. If PSNR ratio is
high then images are best of quality.

Figure 5: The horizontal operation on first row [5]

Step 2:
Scan pixels from top to bottom in vertical direction.
Perform the addition and subtraction operations on
neighboring pixels and then store the sum on the top and the
difference on the bottom as illustrated in Figure 6. Repeat this JET BABOON
operation until all the columns are processed. Finally, 4
Figure 7: Sample test image
subbands denoted as LL, HL, LH, and HH obtained. The LL
subband is the low frequency portion and hence looks very TABLE I. LSB, DCT, DWT TECHNIQUE
similar to the original image. The whole procedure described
is called the first order 2D Haar DWT.
Images PSNR MSE

M O M+N O+P
LSB DCT DWT LSB DCT DWT
N P
M-N O-P Jet 50.9015 52.9532 46.7309 0.5325 0.3320 1.3912

Baboon 51.3214 53.2092 46.8262 0.4834 0.3130 1.3610

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