SARDH: A novel sharpening-aware reversible data hiding algorithm

•A novel sharpening-aware reversible data hiding (SARDH) algorithm is proposed.•SARDH is capable of improving the sharpness of the image while embedding data.•Unlike previous algorithms, SARDH is capable of improving the local contrast.•SARDH minimizes noise amplification and over enhancement artifacts.

Reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithms allow data protection and exact recovery of the original cover image upon data extraction. Most of RDH algorithms attempt to embed data while maintaining high peak signal-to-noise ratio. However, it has been deemed recently that some applications may demand improving the image contrast while embedding data. Additionally, stego images with better contrast could be less attractive to attacker, given the fact they have no idea about the original cover image. In this paper, we propose a sharpening-aware RDH (SARDH) algorithm that is capable of embedding significant amount of data in addition to sharpening the image. Experimental results proved the ability of SARDH algorithm in embedding large payloads and providing sharper stego images.