Resolution in shared albums
Is there a limit on the resolution of the photos in the shared albums? Or do they behave exactly like the normal albums?
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Yes, there is a resolution limit. The storage for Shared Albums does not count against your subscription for iCloud Storage, so Apple has set limits for shared albums.
When you share a photo, it will be downsized to 2048 pixels on the longest edge, for example. And metadata may be removed before the photo is shared. See: How to share albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Apple Support
Shared Albums also support special formats that you capture with your iPhone, like slo-mo, time-lapse, Live Photos, and Memory videos. When shared, photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge, except panoramic photos, which can be up to 5400 pixels wide. You can share GIFs that are 100MB or smaller.
Shared Albums support these video file types and formats:
HEVC
MP4
QuickTime
H.264
MPEG-4
Videos can be up to fifteen minutes in length and are delivered at up to 720p resolution.
* You can't upload RAW photos to Shared Albums on your Windows PC.
Shared Albums upload a copy of your data. Downloaded content may not contain the same information as the original.
There are hourly and daily upload limits as well: My Photo Stream and Shared Albums limits - Apple Support
Shared albums are not really albums. they are streams of photos. You cannot even sort them in the older system versions. iOS 14 and macOS 11 are the first system versions, that support the sorting of shared albums. They are shown in the Photos Library but not really integrated into the Photos Library. We cannot group them with folders, and the photos will not appear in searches or smart album.