Reversible data hiding in encrypted images with block-based bit-plane reallocation

As cloud storage and multimedia communication continue to evolve, the preservation of image privacy is becoming increasingly important. Reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDHEI) is an effective method for enhancing the protection of personal privacy. To improve the embedding capacity, this paper introduces a novel scheme for RDHEI using block-based bit-plane reallocation. First, an effective optimized prediction method is utilized to predict the value of each pixel, followed by the calculation of prediction errors (PEs). Then, block-based bit-planes of PEs are extracted, and ten different bit-plane types are categorized to facilitate bit-plane reallocation, thereby freeing up redundant space. Finally, an adaptive encryption procedure is employed to encrypt the reallocated bit-plane, excluding the flag-bits. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves average embedding rates (ER) of 3.584 bpp, 3.501 bpp, and 2.985 bpp on the three experimental datasets, all of which are higher than those of other state-of-the-art RDHEI schemes while ensuring both reversibility and security. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.