Downloading photos to pc

@MVegas21

I recently contacted Apple support and they confirmed:

If you download your photos from the iCloud website to your PC, you can currently only download photos/videos in jpeg/mp4 format if you click on the photo/video one at at time and manually click the download "most compatible" option.

If you try to select and download more than 1 item at once (where it will download in a zip file), no matter which download option you choose, the files will download in HEIC/MOV format, and be uncompressed. This was not the case 1 week ago, downloading up to 1000 items in the format you wanted was no problem.

Apple updated their iCloud website a week ago and this bug has yet to be fixed. It may not be the best way to pull photos from an iPhone to your PC to have personal copies but up until last week, it was at least reliable.

For reference a 4min 30sec video recorded in 4k60 hdr on an iphone 13 pro is over 3GB in mov format but downloads in mp4 format at just above 120MB.

Hi Mousekit,

To confirm that you're following the suggested steps for downloading photos from the iCloud site, review the steps in this resource: Upload and download photos using iCloud.com

1. In Photos on iCloud.com, select the photos or videos you want to download, or double-click a single photo or video.

2. To download them quickly, click .

3. Photos and videos are downloaded in the most compatible format for the device you’re currently using.

4. To choose another download option, click , click More Download Options, then click  next to any of the following:

• Unmodified Originals: Photos and videos are downloaded in the same file format that was originally captured or imported and don’t include any edits.

• Highest Resolution: Photos and videos are downloaded at the highest quality available for your device (HEIC or H.265 if available).

• Most Compatible: When possible, photos are JPEG and videos are MP4/H.264 to be compatible with various devices.

If you need more help, reach out to Apple Support directly so they can look into this with you further. They can be contacted here: Get Support or by calling the most applicable phone number from this list: Contact Apple for support and service.

Regards.