Created By : Vaibhavi Kumari

Reviewed By : Rajashekhar Valipishetty

Last Updated : May 14, 2023


You can quickly determine an element's resistance using the user-friendly Resistor Color Code Calculator. To receive the resistance and tolerance value in a fraction of a second, simply pick the number of bands in the resistance and band colours from left to right.

Number of bands:
Band 1:
Band 2:
Multiplier:
Tolerance:

How to Read Resistor Color Code?

Below provided are the simple steps to read color code of 4 band resistor, 5 band resistor and 6 band resistors.

  • First of all, identify all the colors on the resistors from left to right and the last one is the tolerance.
  • Use the color code chart and represent digits for them.
  • The band before the tolerance is the multiplier band.
  • Write thode values in an order to get the resistance.

Resistor Color Code System

Color bands on a resistor represent its value. The resistor is the smallest device used in an electronic circuit. The color code on each resistor has a value. In general color codes are 4 band resistor color code, 5 band resistor color code and 6 band resistor color code.

The last color code is called the tolerance and the last but one is called the multiplier and the remaining are called digits in the system.

Get the digit, multiplier and tolerance value of each color code in the following sections.

Color Name Digit Multiplier Tolerance
Black 0  
Brown 1 10Ω ±1%
Red 2 100Ω ±2%
Orange 3 1kΩ  
Yellow 4 10kΩ  
Green 5 100kΩ ±0.5%
Blue 6 1MΩ ±0.25%
Violet 7 10MΩ ±0.1%
Gray 8 100MΩ ±0.05%
White 9 1GΩ  
Gold   0.1Ω ±5%
Silver   0.01Ω ±10%

Resistor Color Code Formulas

4 Band Resistor Color Code

The 4 band resistor color code has 2 digits, 1 multiplier and 1 tolerance.

The formula to compute the resistance of 4 band resistor is

R = multiplier x [(digit1 x 10) + digit2] ± tolerance

5 Band Resistor Color Code

The 5 band resistor color code has 3 digits, 1 multiplier and 1 tolerance at the end.

The formula to find the resistance of 5 band system is

R = multiplier x [(digit1 x 100) + (digit 2 x 10) + digit3] ± tolerance

6 Band Resistor Color Code

It has 6 colors. It is the same as the 5 band resistor but it has a temperature coefficient. The last one is the temperature coefficient.

Example

Question: Find the resistance of the resistor having the color sequence red, green, blue, gold?

Solution:

The given color sequence is red, green, blue, gold.

As the resistor has 4 colors, it is a 4 band resistor

The first two digits are red, green, multiplier is blue and tolerance is gold.

The values of color codes are

red = 2

green = 5

blue = 1MΩ

gold = ±5%

So, the value of resistance is 25MΩ ±5%

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Frequently Asked Questions on Resistor Color Code Calculator

1. What is the resistor Color code and what is it used for?

The resistors are commonly used in electronic circuits. The resistor color code is used to know the value of resistance of the resistors. One has to read the color code on the resistor from the left to the right side. Resistors can have 3, 4, 5 or 6 color bands printed on them.


2. What is the 10k resistor color code?

The 4 band 10k resistor color code is along the lines:

The first band is brown means 1, the second band is black means 0 and the third band is orange and tolerance can have any color.


3. How to identify a resistor's color?

We can identify the color code on axial resistors. Read the color band from left to right on the resistor, the last color indicates the tolerance. Use the formula to calculate the resistance value on the resistor.


4. What do the colors on a resistor mean?

Generally, resistors have four stripes of color. The first three stripes color represents the resistance value and the fourth strip means the tolerance.