The resistor color code (color bands) on your resistor tells you what value the resistor has. There are usually 4 or 5 bands. Use our simple resistor color code calculator below to easily find the value of a resistor.
Click on a color band to change its color and see what the resulting value becomes.
Resistor Color Codes Table
You can find the color bands and the values they represent in the table below:
Further down this page, you’ll find examples of how to use the color table.
Bookmark this page and print out the table below to quickly find the resistor color codes when you need them.
[Click here to download the resistor color codes PDF]
How To Use The Resistor Color Codes Table
In the resistor color codes table, you have digits, a multiplier, and a tolerance.
The multiplier tells you what you need to multiply your digits with to get the value. The tolerance tells you how accurate this value is.
If your resistor has four color bands:
- The first two bands give you the digits
- The third band gives you the multiplier
- The fourth band gives you the tolerance
If your resistor has five bands instead of four, the first three bands give you the digits. And the following two give you the multiplier and the tolerance.
Example #1
This resistor has four bands. The colors of the bands are yellow – purple – orange – gold.
From the table above we find that this means:
- Digit 4
- Digit 7
- Multiplier 1000
- Tolerance 5%
47 multiplied by 1000 is 47000.
So this is a resistor with 47000 Ω (47 kΩ).
A tolerance of 5% means that the real value could be 5% higher or lower than 47 kΩ.
Example #2
This resistor has five bands. The colors of the bands are orange – green – black – red – brown.
From the table above we find that this means:
- Digit: 3
- Digit: 5
- Digit: 0
- Multiplier: 100
- Tolerance: 1%
350 multiplied by 100 is 35000.
So this is a resistor with 35000 Ω (35 kΩ).
A tolerance of 1% means that the real value could be 1% higher or lower than 35 kΩ.
Your exlanation of 4 band & 5 band colour code using single colour-chart is excellent; and needs no further comparision between two types of resistorcolour code.
Great to hear!
Oyvind
This is far better than what we learn at school!!!
From which side of the resistor do we start checking the sequence of the colours?
Good question.
Make sure you have the tolerance band on the right when looking at your resistor.
Often you’ll see that the last band, the tolerance band, is a bit further away from the rest of the bands. If not, then look for a band that is silver or gold, only the tolerance band can be silver or gold.
Best,
Oyvind
Thnx very much!!!
Am very much eager to join ohmify,
not able to sign up using Debit card payment
Hey Ram,
If you get a message that the transaction was unsuccessful or declined, you need to talk with your bank. It might be that they have restrictions on international payments.
Best,
Oyvind
If the Tolerance is lets say 5%, as you said that it could be greater than or less then 45k. How do we know if it is greater or lesser? Or does it not matter much that it might do more or less then what it color bands say it has?
You don’t know. You just know that it’s within 5% of the value. If you need something more accurate, you can find higher tolerances too.
Best,
Oyvind
This is a great deal of work.
Kudos!