Copyright Watermarking in MPEG 1 Files

Abstract

We are living in a digital world in that extensive information exchange can be performed quickly and easily in digital format over the Internet or different storing devices in a cost-effective way. Digital data, such as music, image, video, text, e-mail, and so forth, are easily copied and transferred without any degradation. Concerns over ownership protection, data protection, and other security issues have therefore arisen. Digital watermarking is a general solution that can be used to identify illegal copying and ownership, authentication, or other applications by inserting information into the digital data in an imperceptible way. In order for a watermark to be useful, it must be perceptually invisible and have robustness against detecting processing and a variety of possible attacks by those who seek to pirate the material. In this paper we embedding watermark (text, icon) in MPEG1 file by using unused space in MPEG1 files to protect file from illegal copy and the same way could be used in secret communication (Steganography). The information embedded is hidden and the effect on the appearance and function of the work is minimized or invisible. It is supposed to survive even after digital-to-analog conversion, compression, or resizing.