High-capacity image hiding scheme based on vector quantization

A novel grayscale image hiding scheme that is capable of hiding multiple secret images into a host image of the same size is proposed in this paper. The secret images to be hidden are first compressed by vector quantization with additional index compression process. Then, the compressed secret images are encrypted and embedded into the least-significant bits of the host pixels. To provide good image quality of the stego-image, the modulus function and the image property are employed to hide the secret bits into the host pixels and determine the number of hidden bits in each host pixel, respectively. According to the results, the proposed scheme provides a higher hiding capacity and a higher degree of security than that of the virtual image cryptosystem.