A Steganographic Approach Based on Pixel Blocks Differencing to Enhance the Quality of the Stego Image

In the contemporary era, protecting shared data against interception on public networks is a paramount concern. Steganography, a data hiding technique, emerges as a viable solution to this challenge. However, concealing confidential data within a digital medium, such as an image, often degrades visual quality. This deterioration can raise suspicions among unauthorized users regarding the possible presence of hidden information. Over the years, researchers have developed diverse steganographic algorithms to mitigate the issue of significant image distortion following the data embedding process. Despite these efforts, achieving a high-quality stego image carrying secret data remains a persistent challenge. This research introduces a steganographic approach founded on the difference expansion (DE) logic, aiming to enhance the quality of the stego image for a specified payload size. The experimental results demonstrate a Peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) exceeding 100 decibels (dB), highlighting the superior performance of the proposed method.