A
SYNOPSIS
ON
Deep Fake Detection System
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Technology
in
Computer Science and Engineering
By
Sahil Akash, Tanuj Kumar, Sachin Patel
(2300970100163, 2300970100204, 2300970100162)
Semester – V
Under the Supervision of
Dr. Lopamudra Mohanty
Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology
Greater Noida 201306
Affiliated to
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow
October, 2025
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Contents
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Literature Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Familiarization with the problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Work Done by Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Research Methodology Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Problem Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5 Methodology / Planning of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.1 Phase 1: Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.2 Phase 2: Preprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.3 Phase 3: Model Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.4 Phase 4: Training & Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.5 Phase 5: Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.6 Phase 6: Testing & Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.7 Tools and Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.8 Expected Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1
Abstract
With the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, deepfakes—realistic fake images and videos
created using AI—have become a major concern for online safety and digital trust. Detecting
these manipulations is important to prevent misinformation and misuse of digital content.
In this project, we propose a hybrid deepfake detection model that combines the strengths
of three approaches: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), ResNeXt, and Long Short-Term
Memory (LSTM) networks. CNN and ResNeXt are used to capture visual and spatial details
from images, while LSTM helps in learning the sequence or temporal patterns from video
frames.
Each model is trained separately on real and fake facial data, and the final decision is made
by averaging their individual accuracies or prediction outputs. The results show that the hybrid
model performs better than using any single model alone. This study aims to support the
development of more dependable systems that can identify fake digital media and help maintain
online authenticity.
Keywords: Deepfake Detection, Hybrid Model, CNN, ResNeXt, LSTM, Ensemble Learning,
Digital Media Authenticity.
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1 Introduction
In today’s digital world, multimedia content such as videos and images play a vital role in com-
munication, entertainment, and information sharing. However, the advancement of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and deep learning has also given rise to a concerning technology known as
deepfakes. Deepfakes are synthetic media where a person’s likeness is replaced or altered us-
ing machine learning algorithms, often making it difficult to distinguish between real and fake
content.
This has led to growing threats such as misinformation, identity misuse, cyberbullying, and
damage to reputation. Therefore, the ability to detect and prevent deepfakes has become an
important research area in both academic and professional domains.
Figure 1: Comparison of Real and Deepfake Face Images
Early detection methods mainly relied on handcrafted features such as facial landmarks
or inconsistencies in lighting. However, these traditional approaches often fail when deepfakes
become more sophisticated. Recent advances in deep learning have shown that neural networks
can automatically extract complex patterns that help distinguish fake content from authentic
ones. Yet, using a single model often limits performance due to data variability and different
types of manipulations.
To overcome these challenges, this project proposes a hybrid model that integrates mul-
tiple architectures—Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), ResNeXt, and Long Short-Term
Memory (LSTM)—to improve detection accuracy.
• CNN captures low-level spatial features such as textures and edges.
• ResNeXt, a deeper variant of ResNet, focuses on learning more abstract and robust
visual features.
• LSTM models the temporal or sequential relationships in video frames, which
helps in identifying subtle motion irregularities present in fake videos.
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By combining these models, the system takes advantage of both spatial and temporal cues,
making the overall detection more reliable. Each model is trained on real and fake facial image
datasets, and their predictions are averaged to produce a final output. This ensemble approach
increases overall performance and reduces the error caused by relying on a single model.
Figure 2: Architecture of the Proposed Hybrid Detection Model
The proposed approach contributes toward developing a more robust and practical solution
for real-world deepfake detection. It also encourages the exploration of hybrid architectures
that blend the power of different neural networks.
Through this project, we aim not only to achieve accurate detection but also to raise aware-
ness about the ethical and security challenges associated with deepfake technology.
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2 Literature Survey
2.1 Familiarization with the problem
Deepfake technology uses advanced deep learning models, especially Generative Adversarial
Networks (GANs), to create highly realistic fake videos and images that mimic real people.
While it has positive applications in film and media, its misuse for spreading misinformation,
identity theft, and fraud poses a serious threat to digital security. Traditional detection methods
based on visible artifacts are no longer effective as deepfakes have become increasingly sophis-
ticated. Therefore, there is a growing need for intelligent systems capable of identifying subtle
inconsistencies. Hybrid deep learning approaches combining CNN, ResNeXt, and LSTM mod-
els are emerging as promising solutions, as they can analyze both spatial and temporal features
to detect manipulated content more accurately and reliably.
2.2 Work Done by Others
• Jaiswal et al. (2022) proposed a hybrid CNN-LSTM model for detecting deepfakes
in short video clips using Indian datasets from YouTube and DFDC.
• Kumar and Sinha (2023) implemented a ResNeXt-based architecture trained on
synthetic datasets to detect manipulated facial regions, improving feature extraction
efficiency.
• Patel et al. (2024) investigated the use of transfer learning with pretrained CNNs
(VGG16, InceptionV3) for low-resource environments, addressing computational
limitations in local systems.
• Li et al. (2020) proposed “Face X-Ray,” a CNN-based approach to detect blending
artifacts left by face-swapping algorithms. The method achieved high performance
in identifying manipulated faces but struggled with low-quality videos.
• Afchar et al. (2018) introduced MesoNet, a lightweight CNN architecture de-
signed for efficient real-time deepfake detection. While efficient, it had limited
robustness to unseen datasets.
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• Nguyen et al. (2019) developed a Capsule Network-based model to detect deep-
fakes by capturing spatial relationships between facial features, achieving 96% ac-
curacy on benchmark datasets.
• Korshunov and Marcel (2019) analyzed the impact of compression on deepfake
detection models and found that performance drops significantly under high com-
pression ratios, emphasizing preprocessing importance.
• Dolhansky et al. (2020) released the Deepfake Detection Challenge (DFDC) dataset,
enabling large-scale benchmarking for deepfake detection models and motivating
hybrid ML approaches.
2.3 Research Methodology Insights
The hybrid CNN–ResNeXt–LSTM model combines:
1. CNN for low-level spatial feature extraction.
2. ResNeXt for deep hierarchical and residual features.
3. LSTM for sequential frame-based temporal analysis.
4. Averaging or weighted accuracy fusion can provide a more stable and generalized
output.
The review suggests structuring methodology with:
1. Multi-dataset training (e.g., DFDC, FaceForensics++).
2. Transfer learning for initialization.
3. Cross-validation to reduce overfitting.
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3 Problem Formulation
The increasing use of AI for generating synthetic media has created major social and cyberse-
curity threats. Deepfakes can manipulate perceptions, spread misinformation, and damage rep-
utations. Existing detection systems often fail when tested on unseen datasets or compressed
videos.
Therefore, there is a pressing need for a robust, scalable, and adaptive detection model ca-
pable of analyzing both images and videos. The proposed system addresses these challenges
by combining CNN-based visual learning with temporal sequence analysis through LSTM net-
works, creating a comprehensive detection framework that can handle diverse deepfake manip-
ulation techniques.
The significance of this work lies in its potential to:
• Protect individuals and organizations from identity theft and reputational damage
• Combat the spread of misinformation in digital media
• Provide a scalable solution for real-time deepfake detection
• Contribute to the broader field of digital media forensics and authentication
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4 Objectives
1. Integrate features from both lightweight (MobileNetV2) and deep (ResNet50) CNNs
into a hybrid detection model to combine efficiency and accuracy in identifying
deepfake artifacts.
2. Utilize pretrained CNN architectures such as MobileNetV2 and ResNet50 to extract
robust spatial features from video frames, reducing training time and improving
model performance on limited datasets.
3. Train and evaluate the model on benchmark datasets including Celeb-DF and DFDC
to ensure comprehensive performance assessment.
4. Prioritize model efficiency by using MobileNetV2 for faster inference, making the
hybrid model suitable for real-time or low-resource deepfake detection scenarios
without compromising accuracy.
5. Analyze model accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score for comprehensive perfor-
mance evaluation across different types of deepfake manipulation techniques.
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5 Methodology / Planning of Work
The project follows an iterative machine learning workflow divided into multiple phases. Figure
3 illustrates the complete system workflow from input to output.
The methodology is structured as follows:
5.1 Phase 1: Data Collection
Gather benchmark datasets including Celeb-DF and DFDC (Deepfake Detection Challenge)
containing both real and deepfake videos. These datasets provide diverse manipulation tech-
niques and quality levels for robust model training.
5.2 Phase 2: Preprocessing
• Extract individual frames from video sequences at consistent intervals
• Detect and align faces using MTCNN (Multi-task Cascaded Convolutional Net-
works)
• Resize and normalize frames to match CNN input requirements
• Apply data augmentation techniques to improve model generalization
5.3 Phase 3: Model Design
Build a hybrid architecture incorporating:
• CNN layers for spatial feature extraction
• ResNeXt architecture for deep visual representation learning
• LSTM networks for temporal sequence analysis
• Ensemble mechanism for combining predictions from multiple models
5.4 Phase 4: Training & Evaluation
Train individual models on preprocessed datasets, optimize hyperparameters using validation
sets, and evaluate performance using standard metrics including accuracy, precision, recall, and
F1-score.
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Figure 3: Complete System Workflow of Deep Fake Detection System
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5.5 Phase 5: Integration
Combine frame-wise predictions from individual models using ensemble averaging or voting
mechanisms to determine the authenticity of entire video sequences.
5.6 Phase 6: Testing & Validation
Test the integrated system on unseen data and perform robustness analysis under various con-
ditions including compression, resolution changes, and different manipulation techniques.
5.7 Tools and Technologies
Backend Development:
• Programming Language: Python 3.8+
• Deep Learning Frameworks: TensorFlow/Keras, PyTorch
• Computer Vision Libraries: OpenCV, MTCNN
• Data Processing: NumPy, Pandas
• Web Framework: Flask/FastAPI for REST API development
• Model Serving: TensorFlow Serving or PyTorch Serve
• Database: MongoDB/PostgreSQL for storing detection results
Frontend Development:
Programming Language: HTML,CSS,Javascript
5.8 Expected Outcome
A hybrid detection system capable of identifying deepfakes in real-time with over 90% accu-
racy on benchmark datasets, demonstrating robust performance across various manipulation
techniques and video quality conditions.
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6 References
[1] Khan, M. A., Artusi, A., & Dai, Q. “Adversarially Robust Deepfake Media Detection
Using Fused Convolutional Neural Network Predictions,” arXiv preprint, arXiv:2102.05950,
2021.
[2] Saikia, S., et al. “A Hybrid CNN-LSTM Model for Video Deepfake Detection by
Leveraging Optical Flow Features,” arXiv preprint, arXiv:2208.00788, 2022.
[3] Nadimpalli, M., & Rattani, A. “On Improving Cross-dataset Generalization of Deep-
fake Detectors,” arXiv preprint, arXiv:2204.04285, 2022.
[4] Angeline, K. D., & Kusniyati, M. “Komparasi Performa VGG19, ResNet50, DenseNet121
dan MobileNetV2 dalam Mendeteksi Gambar Deepfake,” Jurnal CESS, vol. 8, no. 1,
pp. 317–324, 2023.
[5] Ikram, S., et al. “A Performance Enhancement of Deepfake Video Detection through
the Use of a Hybrid CNN Deep Learning Model,” International Journal of Electrical
and Computer Engineering Systems, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 43–50, 2023.
[6] Al-Adwan, A., et al. “Detection of Deepfake Media Using a Hybrid CNN–RNN
Model and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) Algorithm,” Computers, vol. 13, no.
4, 2024.
[7] Maguluri, A., et al. “Hybrid Deepfake Detection Using CNN for Spatial Analysis and
LSTM for Temporal Consistency,” IJISRT, vol. 10, no. 3, 2025.
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