Calculators

Resistor color code calculator

Pick the colors to get the resistance, or type a value to get the colors. It handles 3, 4, 5 and 6-band parts and shows the range the tolerance allows. When a value is not a standard one, it gives you the nearest value you can buy.

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Band 1: first digit

Band 2: second digit

Band 3: multiplier

Band 4: tolerance

Resistance: 47 kΩ
Tolerance: ±5 %
May measure: 44.65 kΩ to 49.35 kΩ

A standard value: it is in E6, E12, E24.

Quick answer

Start at the end where the bands sit close together. On a four-band part the bands are digit, digit, multiplier, tolerance, so brown, black, red, gold reads 1, 0, ×100, ±5 %: 1 kΩ.

Color	Digit	Multiplier	Tolerance	Tempco
Black	0	×1	–	250 ppm/K
Brown	1	×10	±1 %	100 ppm/K
Red	2	×100	±2 %	50 ppm/K
Orange	3	×1 k	±0.05 %	15 ppm/K
Yellow	4	×10 k	±0.02 %	25 ppm/K
Green	5	×100 k	±0.5 %	20 ppm/K
Blue	6	×1 M	±0.25 %	10 ppm/K
Violet	7	×10 M	±0.1 %	5 ppm/K
Gray	8	×100 M	±0.01 %	1 ppm/K
White	9	×1 G	–	–
Gold	–	×0.1	±5 %	–
Silver	–	×0.01	±10 %	–
None (no band)	–	–	±20 %	–

Figure 1. The full resistor color code chart (IEC 60062:2016). A dash means the color is not used in that band.

How to read the bands

Start at the end where the bands sit close together. The tolerance band usually stands off on its own at the other end. Gold and silver never stand for a digit, so a part can never start with one of them.

On a four-band part the first two bands are digits, the third is a power-of-ten multiplier and the fourth is the tolerance. Five-band parts add a third digit before the multiplier, which is why the same color in band 3 means something different on the two. A sixth band, where there is one, gives the temperature coefficient: how many parts per million the resistance moves for each kelvin of temperature change. Three bands and no tolerance band is an old convention for ±20 %.

Figure 2. On a four-band part the third band is a multiplier. On a five-band part it's a digit.

The digits run black 0, brown 1, red 2, orange 3, yellow 4, green 5, blue 6, violet 7, gray 8, white 9. Gold and silver multiply by 0.1 and 0.01. The tolerance and temperature-coefficient colors here follow IEC 60062:2016; older precision parts and some charts use gray for ±0.05 % rather than ±0.01 %, so check the datasheet when the last digit of a precision part matters. The color code lesson goes through the reading order, the common misreadings and why the code survives.

Figure 3. The digit colors in order. Gold and silver are never digits.

The tolerance range is the marked value plus and minus the percentage. Parts are sold in preferred-value series whose steps are spaced so that neighboring tolerance bands just overlap: E24 for ±5 %, E96 for ±1 %. That is why this calculator checks the result against the series and offers the nearest value when yours is not in it. The E-series lesson explains the spacing and resistor tolerance covers what the percentage does and does not promise.

A hand holding a magnifying glass over a white sheet where groups of resistors are fanned out around the glass, each group labeled by value from 10R to 100K, with eight resistors seen larger through the lens and a sorted resistor box in the corner. — Groups of resistors labeled by value, fanned around a magnifying glass.

Worked example in numbers

Value: 3.3 kΩ
Tolerance: ±1 %
Lowest: 3.267 kΩ
Highest: 3.333 kΩ

Worked examples

Reading a five-band part

A metal-film resistor reads orange, orange, black, brown, brown. Five bands, so three digits: orange 3, orange 3, black 0 give 330. The fourth band, brown, multiplies by 10, so the value is 330 × 10 = 3.3 kΩ. The last brown is ±1 %.

One per cent of 3.3 kΩ is 33 Ω, so a good part measures anywhere from 3.267 kΩ to 3.333 kΩ. Read it as a four-band part by mistake and orange, orange, black gives 33 × 1 = 33 Ω, a hundred times too small. The brown multiplier gets taken for a tolerance band and the last brown is left with nothing to do, which is the clue. Count the bands first.

Figure 4. Worked example 1, one band at a time.

Figure 5. The same five bands misread as four. Count the bands before you read them.

Coding 4.99 kΩ, and why four bands cannot

4.99 kΩ has three significant digits. A four-band code has room for two, so the best it can do is 5 kΩ: green, black, red, gold. That is a different resistor, and 5 kΩ is not a stocked E24 value either; the nearest E24 part is 5.1 kΩ.

On five bands the value fits exactly. Yellow 4, white 9, white 9, then brown for ×10, then brown for ±1 %: yellow, white, white, brown, brown. 4.99 kΩ is an E96 value, which is the series 1 % parts come in, so this is the part a distributor will have on the shelf.

A six-band part and its temperature band

A six-band resistor reads brown, black, black, red, brown, red. The first five bands work as on a five-band part: 1, 0, 0, then red for ×100, then brown for ±1 %. That is 10 kΩ. The sixth band, red, is the temperature coefficient: 50 ppm/K, so the value moves 50 millionths of itself for every kelvin (or °C) it warms.

Inside a closed box the part can sit at 85 °C (185 °F) instead of the 25 °C (77 °F) it was measured at. That is 60 K, so it drifts by 10 kΩ × 50 × 10⁻⁶ × 60 = 30 Ω, or 0.3 %. The ±1 % tolerance already allows 100 Ω, so for most circuits the sixth band does not matter. It starts to matter when two resistors set a ratio, like a divider feeding an ADC, and have to drift together.

Figure 6. E24 values are spaced so that neighboring ±5 % ranges meet. That's why you can buy 5.1 kΩ but not 5 kΩ.

A single resistor with brown, black, red and gold bands held in tweezers in front of a blurred bench with a multimeter, an oscilloscope, a breadboard, a small circuit board and loose components. — A resistor with brown, black, red and gold bands (1 kilohm, 5 percent) held in tweezers.

Parts and tools on Amazon.in

Resistors to practise on

A kit to read bands on, and a meter to check what you read.

Every common value to practise reading bands.1000-piece resistor kit, 50 values (4.3★, 1,700 ratings) · See on Amazon.in
Confirms the value when a band is hard to read.AstroAI digital multimeter (4.5★, 54,500 ratings) · See on Amazon.in
Resistors plus capacitors and LEDs for your next build.1390-piece component kit (4.6★, 1,000 ratings) · See on Amazon.in
Put the resistors to work without soldering.Breadboard with 60 jumper wires (4.1★, 1,800 ratings) · See on Amazon.in

Or search Amazon.in yourself. Type what you need, or tap a common search.

resistor kit digital multimeter electronic components kit breadboard

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Ratings checked October 2026. We don't show prices; Amazon has the current one.

When the colors are hard to tell apart

Red against orange and brown against red are the usual confusions, and on the multiplier band either one moves the answer by a factor of ten. Old parts that have run hot go brown all over. If the answer looks wrong for where the part sits in the circuit, lift one leg and measure it with a multimeter. Surface-mount parts have no bands at all; their printed codes are in the SMD resistor codes lesson.

Tips and tricks

Read the bands under daylight or a white LED. Warm yellow light makes red and orange look alike, and on the multiplier band that is a factor of ten.
Use the standard values as a check. A reading such as 2.3 kΩ or 5.3 kΩ on a four-band part isn't in E12 or E24, which usually means you read it backwards or misread a color.
Measure with one leg lifted. In circuit, other parts sit in parallel and the meter reads low.
Blue-bodied resistors are usually 1 % metal film with five bands, and beige ones 5 % carbon film with four. It is a habit of makers, not a rule, so it only helps you guess the band count.
Sort new parts into labelled drawers the day they arrive. Reading bands on a full drawer of loose parts takes far longer.

What we would do

For a hobby bench, we would buy one assortment of 1 % metal-film quarter-watt resistors covering the E12 values from 10 Ω to 1 MΩ, sort it into labelled drawers, and keep a multimeter beside it. After the first few dozen parts, measuring is quicker than squinting at bands, and it catches the ones that have drifted. Hobby shops in India and the big distributors elsewhere all sell these kits.

Questions people ask

How do you read a 4-band resistor?

Hold it with the gold or silver band on the right. The first two bands are digits, the third is the multiplier and the fourth is the tolerance. Brown, black, red, gold is 1, 0, ×100, ±5 %: 1 kΩ.

Which end of a resistor do you start reading from?

Start from the end where the bands sit closer together and the gap before the last band is wider. Gold and silver are never first. If a reading gives a value that is not a standard one, try it the other way round.

What is the color code for a 10k resistor?

On a four-band, 5 % part: brown, black, orange, gold. On a five-band, 1 % part: brown, black, black, red, brown.

What do the 5th and 6th bands mean?

On a five-band resistor the first three bands are digits, the fourth is the multiplier and the fifth is the tolerance. A sixth band gives the temperature coefficient, how far the value moves per degree, in ppm/K.

What does a resistor with one black band mean?

It is a zero-ohm link, a jumper in a resistor body so a machine can fit it like any other part. It is rated by the current it can carry, not by resistance.

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