NTFS, exFAT or APFS for a Drive Shared Between Mac and Windows?

Three formats in brief

• NTFS is Windows' own format. Journaled, stable, comfortable with huge files and permissions. macOS reads it out of the box and needs a driver to write.
• exFAT was designed for removable media. Both systems read and write it natively, but there is no journal, so a power cut or a pulled cable corrupts data more easily.
• APFS is Apple's modern file system. Windows cannot see it at all.

If the drive only ever sees Macs

Use APFS. It is built for SSDs, supports snapshots and space sharing, and is the format Time Machine prefers.

If it has to work on both systems

For important data, large capacity or frequent big-file writes, choose NTFS. Windows treats it as native, and with DiskBee the Mac side reads and writes without ceremony.

For occasional small-file swaps, exFAT is simpler. Get into the habit of ejecting before you unplug, and keep one clean backup elsewhere.

The trouble with putting important data on exFAT

Without a journal, an interrupted write can damage the file allocation table. In the worst case the partition turns RAW and nothing mounts. Footage and backups deserve better than that.

Already formatted the wrong way

File systems do not convert in place. Switching means copying everything off and formatting again. If the volume is already NTFS and moving the data is painful, install an NTFS driver on the Mac instead. Your files stay where they are.