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I have the following problem, I want to create simple steganography "program" by coding message in LSB.

I extract ARGB from picture ( each in it's own array ), encode message in LSB of blue color, and try to create new image using a those new values ( I join ARGB arrays back in int array ).

The obvious problem I have is when I change LSB and try to write them to picture , I can see that ImageWriter is creating picture that is much smaller in kb and I can't extract my message anymore.

This is the code :

import javax.imageio.ImageWriteParam;
import javax.imageio.ImageWriter;
import javax.imageio.stream.ImageOutputStream;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
public class Steganography {


int [][] alpha;
int [][] red;
int [][] green;
int [][] blue;


public int [][] readPixels (String image) throws IOException {

    //load image into img buffer
    BufferedImage img = ImageIO.read(new File(image));

    //make matrix according to picture height and width
    int [][] pixels = new int[img.getHeight()][img.getWidth()];


    // load matrix with image pixels
    for(int i=0;i<pixels.length;i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < pixels[0].length; j++) {
            pixels[i][j]=(img.getRGB(j, i));
        }
    }
    /* reminder to myself

    values will be negative because of packing the 4 byte values into a 4-byte

    The getRGB method returns an int whose 4 bytes are the alpha, red, green, and blue components in that order.
    Assuming that the pixel is not transparent, the alpha is 255 (0xFF).
    It's the most significant byte in the int, and the first bit is set in that value.
    Because in Java int values are signed according to Two's Complement,
    the value is actually negative because that first bit is on.

     */

    return pixels ;
}


// extracts colors and alpha into their own matrix so we can reconstruct image later
public void extractColors(int [][] pixel){


    this.alpha = new int[pixel.length][pixel[0].length];
    this.red   = new int[pixel.length][pixel[0].length];
    this.green = new int[pixel.length][pixel[0].length];
    this.blue  = new int[pixel.length][pixel[0].length];



    for(int i=0;i<pixel.length;i++) {
        for(int j=0;j<pixel[i].length;j++){

         int clr = pixel[i][j];
         alpha[i][j] = (clr & 0xff000000) >> 24;
         red[i][j]   = (clr & 0x00ff0000) >> 16;
         green[i][j] = (clr & 0x0000ff00) >> 8;
         blue [i][j] = clr & 0x000000ff;
    }
}

} // closed method

//reconstruct image
// need to make 32 bit integer again in correct order
public void reconstructImage () throws IOException{

    int height = alpha.length;
    int width= alpha[0].length;

    BufferedImage image = new BufferedImage(width, height, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);


    for (int y = 0; y < width; y++) {
        for (int x = 0; x < height; x++) {


            int rgb= red[x][y];
            rgb = (rgb << 8) + green[x][y];
            rgb = (rgb << 8) + blue[x][y];
            image.setRGB(y, x, rgb);
        }
    }

    ImageWriter writer = ImageIO.getImageWritersByFormatName("jpeg").next();
    ImageWriteParam param = writer.getDefaultWriteParam();
    param.setCompressionMode(ImageWriteParam.MODE_EXPLICIT); // Needed see javadoc
    param.setCompressionQuality(1.0F); // Highest quality
    File file = new File("output.jpg");
    ImageOutputStream ios = ImageIO.createImageOutputStream(file);
    writer.setOutput(ios);
    writer.write(image);

}



public void codeMessage (String message){


    //first turn string into binary representation
    // each character  should have 7 bits
    // ASCII uses 7 bit

    message="START"+message.length()+message+"STOP";
    String binaryMessage ="";

    for(int i =0;i<message.length();i++){

        //adding zeros if string has less than 8 characters
        String binaryString= Integer.toBinaryString(message.charAt(i));

        while (binaryString.length() !=7)
            binaryString = "0"+binaryString;

        binaryMessage+=binaryString;
    }

    //binaryMessage is binary representation of string
    // change value of LSB in blue color according to binaryMessage
    //actually coding message into LSB is done here
        int k=0;
        for (int i = 0; i < blue.length; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < blue[i].length; j++) {

                if(k>=binaryMessage.length())
                    break;
                else if (binaryMessage.charAt(k) == '0') {
                    blue[i][j] = blue[i][j] & 0b1111110;
                    k++;
                }
                else {
                    blue[i][j] = blue[i][j] | 0b0000001;
                    k++;
                }
            }
        }
} //closed codeMessage



public void readMessage(){

String LSB ="";
char charLSB;
String messageBinary ="";

    for(int i=0;i<blue.length;i++){
        for(int j=0;j<blue[i].length;j++){
            LSB = Integer.toBinaryString(blue[i][j]);
            charLSB = LSB.charAt(LSB.length()-1);
            messageBinary+=charLSB;
        }
    }


    char ArrayOfChars [] = new char [blue[0].length*blue.length];
    int k =0;
    for(int i=0;i<messageBinary.length()-7;i+=7){
        String letter=(messageBinary.substring(i,i+7));
        int valueOfASCIIcharacter = Integer.parseInt(letter,2);
        char c = (char)(valueOfASCIIcharacter);
        System.out.println(c);
        ArrayOfChars[k]=c;
        k++;
    }

  }
}

I have also tried to use ARGB instead of RGB for BufferedImage, without luck (only messes up colors, picture gets kinda pink ).

This is how I call function in main class

import java.io.IOException;

public class Main {




public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{

    Steganography img = new Steganography();

    int pixels [][] =img.readPixels("image.jpg");
    img.extractColors(pixels);


    img.codeMessage("Some message");


    img.reconstructImage();


    /*reading message from here on */


    int pixels2 [][] = img.readPixels("output.jpg");
    img.extractColors(pixels2);

    img.readMessage();


}
}

Original picture has 83,3 kb ,and recreated picture has only 24,3 kb.

afwef1
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1 Answers1

0

I have found solution.

For anyone having same problem as me and possible searching for solution in future:

This algorithm can't survive .jpg extension. Changed picture to bmp, takes bit longer but everything works as expected.

If you want to use steganography on jpg you have to use something else than LSB.

afwef1
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