The invention relates to methods for hiding values of a hierarchically layered coding unit in other values comprised by the coding unit is provided (encoding methods). Furthermore, the invention also relates to methods for reconstructing hidden data from an encoded coding unit (decoding method). The invention is also related to the implementation of these encoding and/or decoding methods in an apparatus and on a (non-transitory) computer readable medium. According to the invention, data are hidden in values of different layers of a hierarchically structured coding unit.