Error in changing format from NFTS to ExFAT

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

So I just bought a new My Passport external drive and when I plugged it in my Mac I found out that I couldn’t transfer files right away. I tried changing the format from NTFS to ExFAT in the Disk Utility window but I get this message

15800483972372127104489077652500
158004839723721271044890776525002080×1560 2.42 MB

Do I need to clear up space in my Mac for this to work?

2

This may be of assistance -

Basically he says you first need to reformat NTFS into Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and then convert it to APFS format.