that's probably the logical continuation of video hosting - if you upload something to, say, YouTube, you also don't expect to be able to retrieve the original video from there. It may be a high-quality version, but it still gets reencoded on upload...
Well, Vimeo does allow downloading the original video. When I think YouTube I think of a Video Social Media network. Similar to how I don't expect to download the original picture on Instagram, Snap, or Facebook.
Where-as Vimeo is closer to a video hosting service.
Doesn't always seem to be the case though, like you can't download the original video of the 'The Batman' trailer (https://vimeo.com/633805668) anymore for example?
Used to be available (ProRes Video (apch) 3840x2160 23.976fps 685 mbit/s [V: prores hq, yuv422p10le, 3840x2160, 685726 kb/s]).
Slightly higher quality than the one they published on youtube (judge for yourself).
that's probably the logical continuation of video hosting - if you upload something to, say, YouTube, you also don't expect to be able to retrieve the original video from there. It may be a high-quality version, but it still gets reencoded on upload...