Resistor Color Code Calculator 🌈

What is a Resistor Color Code?

Resistors use colored bands to indicate their resistance value and tolerance. The 4-band code is the most common, with bands 1-2 representing digits, band 3 as a multiplier, and band 4 showing tolerance.

Color Values

• Black: 0, Brown: 1, Red: 2
• Orange: 3, Yellow: 4, Green: 5
• Blue: 6, Violet: 7, Grey: 8, White: 9
• Gold: ×0.1, Silver: ×0.01 (multipliers only)

Tolerance Values

• Brown: ±1%, Red: ±2%, Green: ±0.5%, Blue: ±0.25%
• Violet: ±0.1%, Grey: ±0.05%
• Gold: ±5% (most common), Silver: ±10%
• No band: ±20% (older resistors)

Example

Brown-Black-Red-Gold = 10 × 100 = 1,000 Ω (1 kΩ) ±5%

Tips

• Read from left to right, starting from the band closest to one end
• Gold or silver tolerance bands are always on the right
• 1 kΩ = 1,000 Ω, 1 MΩ = 1,000,000 Ω
• Lower tolerance percentage means more accurate resistor