International Journal of Security and Its Applications

Vol. 4, No. 2, April

April,
ril, 2010

Survey of Visual Cryptography Schemes

P.S.Revenkar, Anisa Anjum, W .Z.Gandhare
Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, M.S., India

[email protected], [email protected],[email protected]
Abstract
Visual cryptography scheme is a cryptographic technique which allows visual information
(e.g. printed text, handwritten notes, and picture) to be encrypted in such a way that the
decryption can be performed by the human visual system, without the aid of computers. There
are various measures on which performance of visual cryptography scheme depends, such as
pixel expansion, contrast, security, accuracy, computational complexity, share generated is
meaningful or meaningless, type of secret images( either binary or color) and number of
secret images(either single or multiple) encrypted by the scheme. Intent of this paper is on
study and performance analysis of the visual cryptography schemes on the basis of pixel
expansion, number of secret images, image format and type of shares generated.
Keywords: visual cryptography scheme (VCS), pixel expansion, contrast, security,
accuracy, computational complexity.

1. Introduction
With the rapid advancement of network technology, multimedia information is transmitted
over the Internet conveniently. Various confidential data such as military maps and
commercial identifications are transmitted over the Internet. While using secret images,
security issues should be taken into consideration because hackers may utilize weak link over
communication network to steal information that they want .To deal with the security
problems of secret images, various image secret sharing schemes have been developed.
Visual cryptography is introduced by first in 1994 Noar and Shamir [1]. Visual
cryptography is a cryptographic technique which allows visual information (e.g. printed text,
handwritten notes and pictures) to be encrypted in such a way that the decryption can be
performed by the human visual system, without the aid of computers. Visual cryptography
scheme eliminates complex computation problem in decryption process, and the secret
images can be restored by stacking operation. This property makes visual cryptography
especially useful for the low computation load requirement.
This paper provides overview of various visual cryptography schemes. Taking limited
bandwidth and storage into consideration two criteria pixel expansion and number of shares
encoded is of significance. Smaller pixel expansion results in smaller size of the share.
Encoding multiple secret images into the same share images requires less overhead while
sharing multiple secrets. Meaningful shares avoid attention of hacker considering the security
issues over the communication channels. To meet the demand of todays multimedia
information gray and color image format should be encoded by the schemes. Other
performance measures such as contrast, accuracy, security and computational complexity that
affect the efficiency of visual cryptography are also discussed in this paper.

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April, 2010

This paper is organized as follow: Section 2 provides overview of black and white visual
cryptography schemes, color visual cryptography scheme are elaborated in section 3,
performance of visual cryptography schemes are analyzed in section 4 and last section
concludes the paper.

2. Black and White Visual Cryptography Schemes

2.1 Sharing Single Secret
Naor and Shamirs[1] proposed encoding scheme to share a binary image into two shares
Share1 and Share2 . If pixel is white one of the above two rows of Table 1 is chosen to
generate Share1 and Share2. Similarly If pixel is black one of the below two rows of Table 1
is chosen to generate Share1 and Share2. Here each share pixel p is encoded into two white
and two black pixels each share alone gives no clue about the pixel p whether it is white or
black. Secret image is shown only when both shares are superimposed.
Table1. Naor and Shamirs scheme for encoding a binary pixel into two shares
Pixel

Probability

Share1

Share2

Share1
Share2

50%

50%

50%
50%

To hide a binary image into two meaningful shares Chin-Chen Chang et al [5] suggested
spatial-domain image hiding schemes. These two secret shares are embedded into two graylevel cover images. To decode the hidden messages, embedding images can be
superimposed. Balancing the performance between pixel expansion and contrast Liguo Fang
[6] recommend a (2, n) scheme based on combination. Threshold visual secret sharing
schemes mixed XOR and OR operation with reversing and based on binary linear errorcorrecting code was suggested by Xiao-qing and Tan [16].
The disadvantage of the above schemes is that only one set of confidential messages can be
embedded, so to share large amounts of confidential messages several shares have to be
generated.
2.2 Sharing Multiple Secrets

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April,
ril, 2010

Wu and Chen [2] were first researchers to present the visual cryptography schemes to share
two secret images in two shares. They hidden two secret binary images into two random
shares, namely A and B, such that the first secret can be seen by stacking the two shares,
denoted by A B, and the second secret can be obtained by first rotating A anti-clockwise.
They designed the rotation angle to be 90. However, it is easy to obtain that can be 180
or 270. To overcome the angle restriction of Wu and Chens scheme [2], Hsu et al. [3]
proposed a scheme to hide two secret images in two rectangular share images with arbitrary
rotating angles. Wu and Chang [4] also refined the idea of Wu and Chen [2] by encoding
shares to be circles so that the restrictions to the rotating angles ( = 90, 180 or 270) can
be removed.
S J Shyu et al [7] were first researchers to advise the multiple secrets sharing in visual
cryptography. This scheme encodes a set of n 2 secrets into two circle shares. The n
secrets can be obtained one by one by stacking the first share and the rotated second shares
with n different rotation angles. To encode unlimited shapes of image and to remove the
limitation of transparencies to be circular, Fang[8] offered reversible visual cryptography
scheme. In this scheme two secret images which are encoded into two shares; one secret
image appears with just stacking two shares and the other secret image appears with stack two
shares after reversing one of them. Jen-Bang Feng et al [9] developed a visual secret sharing
scheme for hiding multiple secret images into two shares. The proposed scheme analyzes the
secret pixels and the corresponding share blocks to construct a stacking relationship graph, in
which the vertices denote the share blocks and the edges denote two blocks stacked together
at the desired decryption angle. According to this graph and the pre-defined visual pattern set,
two shares are generated.
To provide more randomness for generating the shares Mustafa Ulutas et al[10] advised
secret sharing scheme based on the rotation of shares. In this scheme shares are rectangular in
shape and are created in a fully random manner. Stacking the two shares reconstructs the first
secret. Rotating the first share by 90 counterclockwise and stacking it with the second share
reconstructs the second secret. Tzung-Her Chen et al [11] offered the multiple image
encryption schemes by rotating random grids, without any pixel expansion and codebook
redesign. A non-expansion reversible visual secret sharing method that does not need to
define the lookup table offered by Fang [13]. To encode four secrets into two shares and
recovering the reconstructed images without distortions Zhengxin Fu et al [14] intended a
rotation visual cryptography scheme. Rotation visual cryptography scheme construction was
based on correlative matrices set and random permutation, which can be used to encode four
secret images into two shares. Jonathan Weir et al [15] suggested sharing multiple secrets
using visual cryptography. A master key is generated for all the secrets; correspondingly,
secrets are shared using the master key and multiple shares are obtained.
All the above schemes can be used only to share the black and white secret images, but it is
demand of time that schemes should also support color images. To meet this demand
researches have been made to share the color images.

3. Color Visual Cryptography Schemes

3.1 Sharing Single Secret

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Until the year 1997 visual cryptography schemes were applied to only black and white
images. First colored visual cryptography scheme was developed by Verheul and Van Tilborg
[17]. Colored secret images can be shared with the concept of arcs to construct a colored
visual cryptography scheme. In c-colorful visual cryptography scheme one pixel is
transformed into m subpixels, and each subpixel is divided into c color regions. In each
subpixel, there is exactly one color region colored, and all the other color regions are black.
The color of one pixel depends on the interrelations between the stacked subpixels. For a
colored visual cryptography scheme with c colors, the pixel expansion m is c 3. Yang and
Laih [18] improved the pixel expansion to c 2 of Verheul and Van Tilborg [17]. But in both
of these schemes share generated were meaningless.
For sharing a secret color image and also to generate the meaningful share to transmit
secret color image Chang and Tsai [19] anticipated color visual cryptography scheme. For a
secret color image two significant color images are selected as cover images which are the
same size as the secret color image. Then according to a predefined Color Index Table, the
secret color image will be hidden into two camouflage images. One disadvantage of this
scheme is that extra space is required to accumulate the Color Index Table. In this scheme
also number of subpixels is in proportional to the number of colors in the secret image as in
Verheul and Van Tilborg [17] Yang and Laih [18] schemes. When more colors are there in
the secret image the larger the size of shares will become. To overcome this limitation ChinChen Chang et al [20] developed a secret color image sharing scheme based on modified
visual cryptography. This scheme provides a more efficient way to hide a gray image in
different shares. In this scheme size of the shares is fixed; it does not vary when the number
of colors appearing in the secret image differs. Scheme does not require any predefined Color
Index Table. Though pixel expansion is a fixed in [20] this scheme is not suitable for truecolor secret image. To share true-color image Lukac and Plataniotis [21] introduced bit-level
based scheme by operating directly on S-bit planes of a secret image.
To hide a color secret image into multiple colored images it is desired that the generated
camouflage images contain less noise. For this purpose R.Youmaran et al [22] invented an
improved visual cryptography scheme for hiding a colored image into multiple colored cover
images. This scheme provides improvement in the signal to noise ratio of the camouflage
images by producing images with similar quality to the originals. For reducing pixel
expansion in color visual cryptography scheme S.J.Shyu [23] advised a more efficient colored
visual secret sharing scheme with pixel expansion of log2 c m where m is the pixel expansion
of the exploited binary scheme. By considering color image transmission over bandwidth
constraint channels a cost effective visual cryptography scheme was invented by Mohsen
Heidarinejad et al[24]. The solution offers perfect reconstruction while producing shares with
size smaller than that of the input image using maximum distance separable. This scheme
provides pixel expansion less than one. To improve the speed of encoding Haibo Zhang et al
[25] presented a multi-pixel encoding which can encode variable number of pixels for each
run. F. Liu et al [26] developed a colour visual cryptography scheme under the visual
cryptography model of Naor and Shamir with no pixel expansion. In this scheme the increase
in the number of colors of recovered secret image does not increase pixel expansion. Wei
Qiao et al [27] suggested visual cryptography scheme for color images based on halftone
technique. A secret image sharing scheme for true-color secret images devised by Du-Shiau
Tsai et al [28]. In the proposed scheme through combination of neural networks and variant
visual secret sharing, the quality of the reconstructed secret image and camouflage images are
visually the same as the corresponding original images.

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Vol. 4, No. 2, April
April,
ril, 2010

For encoding multiple color images using visual cryptography little researches have been
carried out that are discussed here.
3.2 Sharing Multiple Secrets
Tzung-Her Chen et al [12] anticipated a multi-secrets visual cryptography which is
extended from traditional visual secret sharing. The codebook of traditional visual secret
sharing implemented to generate share images macro block by macro block in such a way that
multiple secret images are turned into only two share images and decode all the secrets one by
one by stacking two of share images in a way of shifting. This scheme can be used for
multiple binary, gray and color secret images with pixel expansion of 4.
Daoshun Wang et al [29] provided general construction for extended visual cryptography
schemes using matrix extension algorithm. A general construction method for single or
multiple and binary, grayscale, color secret images using matrix extension utilizing
meaningful shares was suggested. Using matrix extension algorithm, any existing visual
cryptography scheme with random-looking shares can be easily modified to utilize
meaningful shares.

4. Performance analysis of visual cryptography schemes

Various parameters are recommended by researchers to evaluate the performance of visual
cryptography scheme. Naor and Shamir [1] suggested two main parameters: pixel expansion
m and contrast . Pixel expansion m refers to the number of subpixels in the generated shares
that represents a pixel of the original input image. It represents the loss in resolution from the
original picture to the shared one. Contrast is the relative difference in weight between
combined shares that come from a white pixel and a black pixel in the original image.
Jung-San Lee et al [30] advised security, pixel expansion, accuracy and computational
complexity as a performance measures. Security is satisfied if each share reveals no
information of the original image and the original image cannot be reconstructed if there are
fewer than k shares collected. Accuracy is considered to be the quality of the reconstructed
secret image and evaluated by peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) measure. Computational
complexity concerns the total number of operators required both to generate the set of n
shares and to restructure the original secret image C.
Chang et al [19] suggested that visual cryptography scheme should support wide
image format like color and gray scale. Author also argued that random looking shares
appear to be suspicious and thus are vulnerable to attacks by attackers in the middle, to
fill in this security gap, meaningful shares should be produced. Jen-Bang Feng et al[9]
suggested that VCS should support multiple secret to work efficiently. If scheme
support only one secret to share at a time to share multiple secret images numerous
share have to be generated, transmitted and maintained .

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Table 2. Comparison of visual cryptography schemes on the basis of number of

secret images, pixel expansion, image format, type of share generated

Sr.
No.

Pixel
Expansion

Image Format

Type of Share
generated

Authors

Year

1995
1998
2004
2005

1
2
2
2

4
4
4
4

Binary
Binary
Binary
Binary

Random
Random
Random
Random

2005

Binary

Meaningful

2006
2007
2007

1
n(n>=2)
2

2
2n
9

Binary
Binary
Binary

Random
Random
Random

2008

n(n>=2)

3n

Binary

Random

2008

Binary

Random

2008

Binary

Random

2008

n(n>=2)

2009
2009

2
4

1
9

Binary, gray,
color
Binary
Binary

2009

Binary

Random

2009
1997
2000
2000

1
1
1
1

1
c*3
c*2
529

Binary
Color
Color
Color

Random
Random
Random
Meaningful

2002

Gray

Meaningful

2005

Color

Random

22.

Naor and Shamir [1]

Wu and Chen [2]
Hsu et al [3]
Wu and Chang [4]
Chin-Chen Chang et
al [5]
Liguo Fang et al [6]
S. J. Shyu et al [7]
W. P. Fang [8]
Jen-Bang Fenget al
[9]
Mustafa Ulutas [10]
Tzung-Her Chen et al
in [11]
Tzung-Her Chen et al
[12]
Wen-Pinn Fang [13]
Zhengxin Fu[14]
Jonathan Weir et al
[15]
Xiao-qing Tan [16]
Verheul Tilborg [17]
Yang & Liah [18]
Chang and Tsai [19]
Chin Chen Chang et
al [20]
Lukac and Plataniotis
[21]
R.Youmaran et al [22]

2006

Color

Meaningful

23.

S.J.Shyu [23]

2006

Color

Random

2008

9/16

Color

Random

2008

Gray

Random

2008
2009
2009

1
1
1

1
m
9

Color
Color
Color

Random
Random
Meaningful

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.

24.
25.
26.
27.
28.

54

Number
of
Secret
Images

Mohsen Heidarinejad
et al [24]
Haibo Zhang et al
[25]
F. Liu et al [26]
Wei Qiao et al [27]
Du-Shiau Tsai et al

log2 c m

Random
Random
Random

International Journal of Security and Its Applications

Vol. 4, No. 2, April
April,
ril, 2010

[28]

Abbreviations in Visual Cryptography Schemes: m indicate pixel expansion of

corresponding visual cryptography schemes, c number of colors in visual cryptography
schemes, n is the number of shares.
As shown in the Table 2 only few visual cryptography schemes achieve minimum pixel
expansion. If m>1 large storage space required to store and transmit the shares. Schemes with
m=1 [11, 13, 16 and 25] are good candidate for secure transmission over limited bandwidth
communication networks. Meaningful shares [5, 19, 20 and 28] can be helpful to avoid
attacks by hacker. Scheme supporting color images [5, 19, 20, 22 and28] are useful in the
multimedia environment. Less overhead for storage and transmission is required to share
multiple secrets while using the scheme [7, 9 and 12].

5. Conclusion
In this paper various visual cryptography schemes are studied and their performance
is evaluated on four criteria: number of secret images, pixel expansion, image format
and type of share generated. While selecting visual cryptography for a particular
application Table II is helpful. If minimum bandwidth is available to share the secrets
then schemes [24, 11, 13, 16 and 25] are better choice. For sharing multiple color
images schemes [12 and 27] can be employed. For avoiding attention of hackers while
transmitting the confidential messages [5, 19, 20, 22 and 28] are suitable selections .

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