Each ZIP file I download contains so many nested folders. Is this necessary?

Some customers like this, others don’t. If you want to extract all the photo or video files from the subfolders, here’s how to do so:

On Mac: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6422075

On Windows:  The absolute easiest way is to enter the common root folder and do a search for all files (i.e. search for *). When all files are found, mark all files, press Ctrl + X and navigate to the common root folder again. Now press Ctrl + V to paste all the files into the root folder. When finished, delete all subdirectories.