Enhanced Pixel Value Differencing in YCbCr for High-Capacity

This paper proposes a high-capacity steganography method using Pixel Value Differencing (PVD) in YCbCr color space to address cybersecurity challenges in secure data transmission. Traditional PVD techniques, limited to grayscale images, are enhanced by embedding data across luminance (Y) and chrominance (Cb, Cr) channels, significantly improving payload capacity while maintaining imperceptibility. A boundary correction mechanism prevents pixel overflow, and a dynamic quantization table optimizes bit allocation. Experimental results demonstrate an average embedding capacity of 1.96 million bits and 42.01 dB PSNR, outperforming existing methods. This work advances cybersecurity applications such as digital watermarking and covert communication.