I. J. of Electrical & Electronics Research
Research Article | 
Robust Digital Watermarking for Multimedia Content Authentication in DWT-DCT Domain
Author(s): Roop Singh1*, Sumit Kumar2, Pavan Kumar Shukla3, Priyanka Chandani4, Urvashi Gupta5, Lalit Garg6
Published In : International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research (IJEER) Volume 14, Issue 3
Publisher : FOREX Publication
Published : 30 September 2026
e-ISSN : 2347-470X
Page(s) : 668-675
Abstract
Most of the existing single domain Watermarking schemes suffer with security of multimedia content. To address this limitation, a hybrid watermarking framework integrating DWT and DCT transforms is introduced in this study. The proposed approach initially applies the Arnold transform to the color cover image to strengthen data security through image scrambling. Subsequently, the encrypted image is decomposed using a single-level discrete wavelet transform (DWT), where the selected sub-bands (πΏπΏ1 and π»π»1) are utilized for further watermark embedding operations. To achieve a balanced trade-off between visual quality and robustness, the chosen sub-bands are partitioned into 8Γ8 blocks and transformed using the discrete cosine transform (DCT). Finally, the watermark logo is embedded into the mid-frequency DCT coefficients, resulting in the generation of a secure and imperceptible watermarked image. The performance is measured on SIPI dataset in terms of PSNR, SSIM, NC. The experimental finds demonstrate that the presented method outperforms with the existing relevant schemes.
Keywords: Medical images, Color Images, Watermarking, Security, DWT, DCT.
Roop Singh, Amity Institute of Defence Technology, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India, Email: roopsolanki@gmail.com
Sumit Kumar, Amity School of Engineering and Technology, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
Pavan Kumar Shukla, School of Engineering and Technology, CGC university, Mohali, India
Priyanka Chandani, Bennett University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Urvashi Gupta, Department of Electronics Communication Engineering, Krishna Institute of Engineering Technology, Ghaziabad, Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, India
Lalit Garg, Faculty of Information & Communication Technology, University of Malta, Malta, Europe
-
[1] Dubolia, Rakhi, et al. "Digital image watermarking by using discrete wavelet transform and discrete cosine transform and comparison based on PSNR." 2011 International conference on communication systems and network technologies. IEEE, 2011.
-
[2] Singh, Roop, Alaknanda Ashok, and Mukesh Saraswat. "Robust video watermarking in frequency domain for copyright protection." Proceedings of the 2021 Thirteenth International Conference on Contemporary Computing. 2021.
-
[3] Abdulhakeem O Mohammed, Haval I Hussein, Ramadhan J Mstafa, and Adnan M Abdulazeez. A blind and robust color image water-marking scheme based on dct and dwt domains. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 82(21):32855β32881, 2023.
-
[4] Rakhi Dubolia, Roop Singh, Sarita Singh Bhadoria, and Rekha Gupta. Digital image watermarking by using discrete wavelet transform and discrete cosine transform and comparison based on psnr. In 2011 International conference on communication systems and network technologies, pages 593β596. IEEE, 2011.
-
[5] Roop Singh, Raju Pal, Himanshu Mittal, and Deepak Joshi. Multi-objective optimization-based medical image watermarking scheme for securing patient records. Computers and Electrical Engineering, 118:109303, 2024.
-
[6] Thien Huynh-The, Cam-Hao Hua, Nguyen Anh Tu, Taeho Hur, Jaehun Bang, Dohyeong Kim, Muhammad Bilal Amin, Byeong Ho Kang, Hyonwoo Seung, and Sungyoung Lee. Selective bit embedding scheme for robust blind color image watermarking. Information Sciences, 426:1β18, 2018.
-
[7] Roop Singh, Raju Pal, and Deepak Joshi. Optimal frame selection-based watermarking using a meta-heuristic algorithm for securing video content. Computers and Electrical Engineering, 121:109857, 2025.
-
[8] B Bolourian Haghighi, Amir Hossein Taherinia, and Reza Mon-sefi. Trlf: An effective semi-fragile watermarking method for tam-per detection and recovery based on lwt and fnn. arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.07119, 2018.
-
[9] Seyyed Hossein Soleymani, Amir Hossein Taherinia, and Amir Hos-sein Mohajerzadeh. Waca: a new blind robust watermarking method based on arnold cat map and amplified pseudo-noise strings with weak correlation. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 78(14):19163β19179, 2019.
-
[10] HM Yasin, AB Sallow, and RZ Mahmood. High-speed fpga-based video watermarking using lsb technique in the spatial domain. Int. J. Intell. Syst. Appl. Eng, 12:644β653, 2024.
-
[11] Zaid Bin Faheem, Abid Ishaq, Furqan Rustam, Isabel de la Torre DΓez, Daniel Gavilanes, Manuel Masias Vergara, and Imran Ashraf. Image watermarking using least significant bit and canny edge detection. Sensors, 23(3):1210, 2023.
-
[12] Rizal Khoirul Anam. Robustness and imperceptibility analysis of hybrid spatial-frequency domain image watermarking. arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.10245, 2025.
-
[13] Soumitra Roy, Varish Naushad, Syed Irfan Yaqoob, Md Sham-sul Haque Ansari, and Abu Taha Zamani. Dct-based robust re-versible watermarking technique based on histogram modification. International journal of electrical and computer engineering systems, 16(6):473β484, 2025.
-
[14] Manasi Jana and Biswapati Jana. A new dct based robust image watermarking scheme using cellular automata. Information Security Journal: A Global Perspective, 31(5):527β543, 2022.
-
[15] Wafa Hamdan Alshoura and Moatsum Alawida. Secure and flexible image watermarking using iwt, svd, and chaos models for robustness and imperceptibility. Scientific Reports, 15(1):7231, 2025.
-
[16] Fauzia Yasmeen and Mohammad Shorif Uddin. An efficient water-marking approach based on ll and hh edges of dwtβsvd. SN Computer Science, 2(2):82, 2021.
-
[17] Zihan Yuan, Decheng Liu, Xueting Zhang, and Qingtang Su. New image blind watermarking method based on two-dimensional discrete cosine transform. Optik, 204:164152, 2020.