What format do I ned to make my external hard drives to enable them to work with both Mac and PC?

I'd like to format several external hrd drives to work with both my Mac Book Pro and a PC in the house.  Disk utility says ok for esFat to wrok with both but techies say format as FAT. 
Also, does size of external have an influence on the formatting option?
Thanks.  Being a relative newcomer to MAC, I am trying to learn the ropes.  Thanks for any assistance you can give me.
TJ

hey
i agree with matt exFat is a hybrid with good compatibility between both windows and mac, but it has this problem with huge cluster size so it'll eat your hdd up.
if you are using it on a single windows pc you can install a HFS+ reader to that windows pc it'll enable you to read the hdd formatted HFS+ but you WON'T be able to write to it!!
anyway it's your choice since both are okay but personally i've formatted mine to HFS+ and installed a reader on the pc

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