Optimal Color Image Watermarking Based on DWT-SVD Using an Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm

Digital watermarking is now recognized as an effective method to ensure authorized access, facilitate content verification, and prevent unauthorized copying, which helps to increase the security of image sharing, transfer, and indexing. In this paper, we propose an optimal watermarking algorithm for color images based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT), singular value decomposition (SVD), and arithmetic optimization algorithm (AOA). The host image is initially divided into subbands via the proposed watermarking process, and each subband singular value is then altered by a scaling factor (α) to achieve the highest robustness possible. Finding the optimal value of α is a challenging problem. To determine this optimal value automatically, we use the AOA algorithm, which allows us to achieve high robustness without reducing transparency. The simulation results clearly show the effectiveness of our proposed watermarking algorithm in terms of image quality and confidentiality.