HDMI gets complicated since there's also the source and destination equipment and how they will deal with the signals.
e.g. HDMI 2.1 spec added higher bandwidth capability. But what that means is that instead of just sending video down three channels (TMDS channels 0, 1 and 2), video data can also be sent over the TMDS clock channel (i.e. a total of four channels). The physical cable will be the same (so far, all HDMI cables have the same exact wiring). However, if the source equipment splits the video over those four channels and the destination equipment only knows how to deal with three, then you'll have issues.
Also, gauge of the individual wires in the cable will determine maximum bandwidth for a given distance (length). If you purchase those copper-based HDMI cables that are super thin, they will most likely fail for longer lengths if you need to push lots of data. Since the individual wires will be very very thin.
For my setup, I'm using passive HDMI cables (wanted to keep things simple and avoid any issues with active cables). And, ensured they were full 48 Gbps compliant. This leads to them being physically thicker. and, while not all my source components would output such high bandwidth, I sometimes will shuffle components around when getting new components. So I don't have the case where say the only 3-foot cable I have is an 18 Gbps rated one. All the different lengths I have are all rated the same (48 Gbps), so can mix-and-match.
The amount of data can sometimes be adjusted at your source component. e.g. on my 4K bluray player, I can either have it output 8-bit 4:2:0 or 12-bit 4:4:4. I choose the latter since the blu-ray player does a better job at chroma processing than my TV.
Finally, even some newer receivers are shipping with HDMI inputs that are not all equal. Some are even labeling all inputs as being HDMI 2.1 compliant (which one would then assume could handle 48 Gbps). But, some of the inputs max out at 24 Gbps and if you read the fine print, 4K 120 would require compression. So you're back to the case where would the equipment being connected to that receiver know how to deal with said compression.