Invariances of JPEG-quantized DCT coefficients and their application in robust image steganography

Liyan Zhu, Xiangyang Luo, Chunfang Yang, Yi Zhang, Fenlin Liu

Abstract: Highlights•The nonzero invariance of JPEG-quantized DCT coefficients is discovered. It is the basis for the following characteristic.•The position invariance of the last nonzero JPEG-quantized DCT coefficients is derived. Its robustness is verified.•These two characteristics' applicability under different quality factors is analyzed and given.•The position invariance of the last nonzero JPEG-quantized DCT coefficients is applied in robust image steganography.•The method combining anti-JPEG compression and antistatistical detection is proposed.