Resistor Color Codes

Components and wires are coded are with colors to identify their value and function.

The colors brown, red, green, blue, and violet are used as tolerance codes on 5-band resistors only. All 5-band resistors use a colored tolerance band. The blank (20%) "band" is only used with the "4-band" code (3 colored bands + a blank "band").

Example #1

A resistor colored Yellow-Violet-Orange-Gold would be 47 kΩ with a tolerance of +/- 5%.

Example #2

A resistor colored Green-Red-Gold-Silver would be 5.2 Ω with a tolerance of +/- 10%.

Example #3

A resistor colored White-Violet-Black would be 97 Ω with a tolerance of +/- 20%. When you see only three color bands on a resistor, you know that it is actually a 4-band code with a blank (20%) tolerance band.

Example #4

A resistor colored Orange-Orange-Black-Brown-Violet would be 3.3 kΩ with a tolerance of +/- 0.1%.

Example #5

A resistor colored Brown-Green-Grey-Silver-Red would be 1.58 Ω with a tolerance of +/- 2%.

Example #6

A resistor colored Blue-Brown-Green-Silver-Blue would be 6.15 Ω with a tolerance of +/- 0.25%.