Wavelet-based features to improve cross-forgery generalization in deepfake detection

Abstract

Deepfake detection remains a challenging problem due to the ever-evolving techniques used to synthesize realistic fake images and videos. Traditional detection methods primarily operate in the pixel domain, often struggling to generalize across different forgery types. In this work, we explore an approach that integrates wavelet-based frequency analysis with deep learning to enhance deepfake detection. By decomposing input images using the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), we extract multi-resolution features that capture both global structures and fine-grained manipulation artifacts; such features are then input to a neural network. Our results show that level-1 DWT features mainly induce a sensitivity-specificity tradeoff: they improve fake-class sensitivity and F1 in cross-forgery settings, while RGB models retain stronger specificity and in-forgery performance. This suggests that wavelet sub-bands expose manipulation cues that are useful for detecting unseen fake classes, but they should not be interpreted as a uniform robustness improvement.