High-capacity reversible multi-layer watermarking for H.264/AVC video

Watermarking any digital content usually leads to irreversible changes in the host. This can be unacceptable in certain application areas and due to a number of reasons such as legal issues. To satisfy these requirements, the paradigm of reversible watermarking was developed. This paper proposes a reversible watermarking technique based on the difference expansion technique. The watermark so embedded is fragile in nature and is useful for authentication systems. The proposed algorithm utilizes the IPCM macroblocks in an H.264/AVC bitstream to embed a high-capacity watermark. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated for a variety of video samples and for a variety of encoding parameters. The results show that the technique is capable of embedding a high payload in the H.264/AVC bitstream with a negligible effect on the rate-distortion characteristics while at the same time being completely reversible.