Shared Albums on iPhoto - unable to pull originals

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Shared Albums on iPhoto - unable to pull originals

When I "export unmodified originals" from a shared album on iPhoto, all the videos that should be 4K or HD come out to a resolution of 960x720, or something similar in size. How do I export the files in 4K?

I have my computer settings set to not have optimized storage. Everyone directly uploaded to the shared album from their phones. I've never been able to figure out why Apple downresses everything. I feel like there must be a setting I'm missing.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.8

Posted on Apr 3, 2026 1:10 PM

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Answer 1

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markwmsn

Level 6

17,125 points

Apr 3, 2026 2:36 PM in response to crinks

When a video is added to a Shared Album, its resolution is reduced to the maximum allowable for Shared Albums, which is much lower than 4K. If you want the 4K original, you will have to export the real original from before it went into the Shared Album. (The "Export Unmodified Originals" versus plain Export distinction applies only to items that are actually in the Private Library or Shared Library; a Shared Album is administrated separately.)

Apple is never much into answering "why?" questions, but the limits on Shared Album resolution and upload rate have been in place for years for both photos and videos. (They have gotten harder to find recently.) The rationalization among users is that Apple created the resolution and upload rate limits because they were giving the space for free, outside the iCloud space quota and didn't want the server storage requirements to get out of hand.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

217,782 points

Apr 4, 2026 10:29 AM in response to crinks

The following was taken from this Apple document: Shared Album limits - Apple Support

"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 do not support spatial photo or video.

Videos can be up to fifteen minutes in length and are delivered at up to 720p resolution."

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