This paper discusses optimal wavelet packet basis selection within JPEG2000. Two algorithms of Lagrangian rate distortion optimal wavelet packet basis selection for JPEG2000 are presented. The first and more conservative approach considers the JPEG2000 packet body data in the rate distortion optimization only, while the other technique additionally integrates packet header data. The algorithms are evaluated on the FVC2004 fingerprint databases and other textured image data. Results demonstrate that inclusion of header data information into rate distortion optimization leads to superior compression results. For the first time the maximum performance gains of custom isotropic wavelet packets in JPEG2000 can be assessed.

The impact of using different wavelet packet subband structures in JPEG2000 on the matching accuracy of a fingerprint recognition system is investigated. In particular, we relate rate-distortion performance as measured in PSNR to the matching scores as obtained by the recognition system. Employing wavelet packets instead of the dyadic wavelet transform turns out to be of advantage only in case of low bitrates (i.e. high compression rates). For such settings, the good performance of the WSQ structure is confirmed also in JPEG2000 and in particular we get better recognition accuracy using the WSQ structure as compared to the employment of a rate-distortion optimising subband selection approach.