How to Read Resistor Color Codes
Every resistor's value is hiding in plain sight, in the colored bands painted around its body. Here's how to decode them without reaching for a multimeter.
Why Resistors Use Color Bands
Through-hole resistors are usually too small to print numbers on legibly, so manufacturers use a standardized color code instead. Once you know the sequence, you can read a resistor's value from across the workbench.
4-Band Resistors
The most common type. The first two bands are significant digits, the third is a multiplier, and the fourth is the tolerance.
- Band 1 & 2: first two digits of the value
- Band 3: multiplier (how many zeros to add)
- Band 4: tolerance — gold (±5%) or silver (±10%)
5-Band Resistors
Used for tighter-tolerance parts. Three significant digit bands instead of two, giving more precision before the multiplier and tolerance bands.
- Band 1, 2 & 3: three digits of the value
- Band 4: multiplier
- Band 5: tolerance — brown (±1%) is the most common on 5-band resistors
The Color-to-Number Key
- Black = 0, Brown = 1, Red = 2, Orange = 3, Yellow = 4
- Green = 5, Blue = 6, Violet = 7, Grey = 8, White = 9
Quick Tips
- The tolerance band is usually spaced slightly apart from the others — start reading from the opposite end
- When in doubt, verify with a multimeter's resistance mode before soldering into a sensitive circuit
- Every resistor listing on PicMyChip shows the verified resistance and tolerance in the spec sheet, so you never have to guess