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The data types and selections that gui-get-selection and
gui-set-selection understand are not precisely specified and
differ subject to the window system on which Emacs is running.
At the same time, gui-set-selection abstracts over plenty of
complexity: its data argument is given verbatim to
system-specific code to be rendered suitable for transfer to the
window system or requesting clients.
The most comprehensive implementation of selections exists under the X Window System. This is both an artifact of history (X was the first window system supported by Emacs) and one occasioned by technical considerations: X selections are not merely an expedient for the transfer of text and multimedia content between clients, but a general inter-client communication system, a design that has yielded a proliferation of selection and data types.
Compounding this confusion, there is another inter-client communication mechanism under X: the Inter-Client Exchange. ICE is only used by Emacs to communicate with session managers, and is a separate topic.