A Spatial Domain Image Steganography Technique Based on Matrix Embedding and Huffman Encoding

This paper presents an algorithm in spatial domain which gives less distortion to the cover imageduring embedding process. Minimizing embedding impact and maximizing embedding capacityare the key factors of any steganography algorithm. Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) is thefamiliar metric used in discriminating the distorted image (stego image) and cover image. Herematrix embedding technique is chosen to embed the secret image which is initially Huffmanencoded. The Huffman encoded image is overlaid on the selected bits of all the channels ofpixels of cover image through matrix embedding. As a result, the stego image is constructed withvery less distortion when compared to the cover image ends up with higher PSNR value. A secretimage which cannot be embedded in a normal LSB embedding technique can be overlaid in thisproposed technique since the secret image is Huffman encoded. Experimental results forstandard cover images, which obtained higher PSNR value during the operation is shown in thispaper.