A robust data hiding algorithm for H.264/AVC video streams

• The mechanism uses BCH (n, k, t) code before data hiding to improve robustness.
• We embed the encoded data into the coefficients to avert distortion drift.
• The data hiding algorithm for H.264/AVC video streams is readable.
• Finally we recover the original video as much as possible.

This paper presents a robust readable data hiding algorithm for H.264/AVC video streams without intra-frame distortion drift. We first encode the embedded data using BCH (n, k, t) syndrome code before data hiding to improve robustness, then we embed the encoded data into coefficients of the 4 × 4 luminance discrete cosine transform (DCT) blocks in I frames which meet our conditions to avert the distortion drift, and finally we recover the original video as much as possible when the hidden data is extracted out. The experimental results show that our scheme can get more robustness, effectively avert intra-frame distortion drift and get high visual quality.