Why are photos I email from my iPhone library higher resolution than ones I download from iCloud?

jameslox wrote:

If I take a photo with my iPhone 10 and then email it to my PC laptop via hotmail, it arrives as a higher Mb file than if I download the same photo from my iCloud photo library. Why is this? I would like the highest resolution photos onto my laptop, but I don't want to have to email them all to myself. Any help much appreciated! Btw I have tried the photos app on my PC laptop, but it often crashes, so I was hoping I could rely on iCloud!

Have you considered downloading iCloud for Windows and storing your photos in iCloud on your PC that way?

Download iCloud for Windows - Apple Support