MADRID (AP) — An international team of mathematicians whose theories have improved the compression of large digital files of data, including images and sound, will be recognized with one of the most prestigious awards in the Spanish-speaking world.

The Spanish foundation that organizes the annual Princess of Asturias awards said Tuesday that the 2020 prize for Scientific and Technical Investigation will go to Yves Meyer, Ingrid Daubechies, Terence Tao and Emmanuel Candes.

The contributions by Meyer and Daubechies in the mid-80's on the theory of "wavelets" were key in developing the system tha...