Source: https://mokxi.com/learn/resistor-color-code
Updated: 2026-09-27

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# Resistor color code: calculator, chart and how to read it

Written by the Mokxi team, updated September 27, 2026

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Each resistor is brown, black, orange, gold. Open it, delete the 5 V supply and set the meter to ohms to read one.

A through-hole resistor is too small to print a number on, so its value is painted on as colored bands. The calculator below works both ways: pick the bands to get a value, or type a value to see its bands. Under it is the chart, then how to read the bands without the calculator, including the mistakes that put the wrong resistor in a circuit.

The circuit above has three 10 k resistors, each banded brown, black, orange, gold, with a multimeter on them. Open it in the editor, delete the 5 V supply, turn the meter’s dial to ohms and press Run: it reads 10 k across one resistor, which is what the bands say.

Resistor color code calculator

Bands to value 4 bands5 bands

blackbrownredorangeyellowgreenbluevioletgraywhiteblackbrownredorangeyellowgreenbluevioletgraywhiteblackbrownredorangeyellowgreenbluevioletgraywhitegoldsilverbrownredgreenbluevioletgoldsilver

220 Ω ±5%

A good part measures between 209 Ω and 231 Ω.

Value to bands

4 bands: yellow, violet, red, gold

5 bands: yellow, violet, black, brown, brown

Resistor color code chart
Color | Digit | Multiplier | Tolerance

black | 0 | × 1 |

brown | 1 | × 10 | ±1%

red | 2 | × 100 | ±2%

orange | 3 | × 1 k |

yellow | 4 | × 10 k |

green | 5 | × 100 k | ±0.5%

blue | 6 | × 1 M | ±0.25%

violet | 7 | × 10 M | ±0.1%

gray | 8 | × 100 M |

white | 9 | × 1 G |

gold | | × 0.1 | ±5%

silver | | × 0.01 | ±10%

## How the code works

Each color stands for a digit from 0 to 9: black 0, brown 1, red 2, orange 3, yellow 4, green 5, blue 6, violet 7, gray 8, white 9. A common way to remember the order is "Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West", one word per color.

On a four-band resistor, the first two bands are digits, the third is a multiplier, the number of zeros to add, and the fourth is the tolerance. Red, red, brown, gold is 2 and 2, then one zero: 220 ohms, within 5 percent. Yellow, violet, red, gold is 47 with two zeros, 4,700 ohms, written 4.7 k. Gold and silver as the multiplier mean divide by 10 and by 100, for values under 10 ohms.

The tolerance band says how far the real value can be from the marked one. Gold is 5 percent, silver 10 percent, brown 1 percent and red 2 percent. A 220 ohm, 5 percent resistor can measure anywhere from 209 to 231 ohms and still be a good part.

## Which end to start from

Start from the end away from the gold or silver band. The tolerance band usually sits a little apart from the others, and the first band is usually closer to the end of the body. Gold and silver can never be the first band, so if you are holding a resistor with gold on the left, turn it around.

Five-band resistors are harder, because their tolerance band is often brown or red, which are also digits. Look for the wider gap. If you still cannot tell, try reading it both ways: usually only one direction gives a value that exists as a standard part, which is the next section. When in doubt, measure it.

## Four, five and six bands

Four bands are two digits, a multiplier and a tolerance, and most carbon film resistors in a starter kit are marked this way. Five bands are three digits, a multiplier and a tolerance, used on 1 percent metal film resistors, which often have a blue body. So 220 ohms on a five-band part is red, red, black, black, brown: 2, 2, 0, no more zeros, 1 percent. A sixth band, when there is one, is the temperature coefficient, how much the value drifts with heat, and can be ignored for most projects.

## Why 220 and 4.7 k, and not 200 and 5 k

Resistors are made in standard series of preferred values rather than every round number. The E12 series, common for 10 percent parts, has twelve values per decade: 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 27, 33, 39, 47, 56, 68 and 82, times any power of ten. The E24 series adds values in between, and 1 percent parts use longer series still. The steps are spaced so that each value’s tolerance range nearly reaches the next.

That is why kits are full of 220, 330, 1 k, 4.7 k, 10 k and 100 k. It also helps with reading: if the bands you think you see give 250 ohms, you are probably misreading one, because 250 is not in E12 or E24.

## The misreads that cause real problems

The costly one is the third band. Red, red, brown is 220 ohms, the usual LED resistor; red, red, orange is 22 k, a hundred times more, and an LED behind it barely glows. Brown, red and orange are hard to tell apart under classroom lights, and so are blue and violet, or gray and white. Under a desk lamp, or with a phone flashlight, they separate much better.

A multimeter settles it. Take the resistor out of the circuit or at least disconnect the power, put the meter on the ohms range, and touch one probe to each leg. The ohms range works by pushing its own small current through the part, so in a powered circuit the reading means nothing, which is why the meter in the circuit above only reads resistance once the 5 V supply is taken off.

## Practice without a bag of resistors

Every resistor in the Mokxi editor is drawn with the correct bands for its value, so it is a practice sheet that checks itself. Drop a resistor on the breadboard, type any value in its properties, and read the bands; or look at the bands first and guess before you check. The LED and resistor guide covers which value to pick for an LED, and how far you can stray from it.

## Questions

What are the colors of a 220 ohm resistor?

Red, red, brown, gold on a four-band resistor. On a five-band 1 percent resistor: red, red, black, black, brown.

What are the colors of a 10 k resistor?

Brown, black, orange, gold on four bands. On five bands: brown, black, black, red, brown.

Which way do you read a resistor?

From the end away from the gold or silver tolerance band. Gold and silver are never the first band.

What does the gold band on a resistor mean?

As the last band, a tolerance of 5 percent. As the third band of four, a multiplier of 0.1, for values under 10 ohms.

Related

## Keep going

Picking a Resistor for an LED Ohm's Law, in a Circuit You Can Run How to Use a Multimeter: Practice on a Virtual One Arduino LED Not Lighting Up or Dim: What to Check The resistor part The breadboard simulator The project page, with the full sketch

Sources

## Where the facts on this page come from

- Electronic color code (IEC 60062), with the full table
- E series of preferred numbers (IEC 60063)

## Build this for real

Open the editor, change a value and watch the number move with it. Nothing to install, and no account needed.

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