A method of matching a query fingerprint to a plurality of file fingerprints. The method comprises the steps of determining a plurality of partial features of each of the file fingerprints. For each partial feature, derive a list of all file fingerprints which have said partial feature as one of their partial features. Determine a plurality of query partial features of the query fingerprint, and derive a ranked list of the file fingerprints based on identifying the individual query partial features in the partial features of the respective file fingerprints. Then perform one-to-one matching of the query fingerprint with selected ones of the ranked list of the file fingerprints.