Fingerprint recognition and matching systems and methods are described that utilize features at all three fingerprint friction ridge detail levels, i.e., Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, extracted from 1000 ppi fingerprint scans. Level 3 features, including but not limited to pore and ridge contour characteristics, were automatically extracted using various filters (e.g., Gabor filters, edge detector filters, and/or the like) and transforms (e.g., wavelet transforms) and were locally matched using various algorithms (e.g., the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm). Because Level 3 features carry significant discriminatory and complementary information, there was a relative reduction of 20% in the equal error rate (EER) of the matching system when Level 3 features were employed in combination with Level 1 and Level 2 features, which were also automatically extracted. This significant performance gain was consistently observed across various quality fingerprint images.