Easy to use Resistor Color Code Calculator that makes identifying resistance and tolerance values for 4, 5, and 6 band resistors super simple. We also have resistor color code charts with the explanation.
Resistor Color Code Calculator
Select the number of bands on resistor:
Select resistor band colors by clicking on resistor bands below:
DECODED RESISTOR VALUE:
0 ohms 20%
How to use the Resistor Color Code Calculator?
The Resistor Color Code Calculator is capable of reading 4-band, 5-band and 6-band resistors. First, choose the correct number of bands then setup the band colours by clicking on the virtual resistor bands. The Resistor Color Code Calculator immediately shows the resistor values.
If you one to know more about resistor color codes, resistor e-series standards, etc, you can find detailed information below. You also can download our Resistor Color Code Reading Guide.
How to read a 4-band resistor color code?
Start reading the 4-band resistor from left to right, the first two color bands represent significant digits, the third band represents the decimal multiplier, and the fourth band represents the tolerance. The exact meaning of each color codes for the 4-band resistors is given in the chart below.
4-band resistor color code chart
| COLOR CODE | BAND 1 | BAND 2 | BAND 3 | BAND 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COLOR | DIGIT 1 | DIGIT 2 | MULTIPLY | TOLERANCE |
| Black | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Brown | 1 | 1 | 10 | ± 1% |
| Red | 2 | 2 | 100 | ± 2% |
| Orange | 3 | 3 | 1,000 | |
| Yellow | 4 | 4 | 10,000 | |
| Green | 5 | 5 | 100,000 | ± 0.5% |
| Blue | 6 | 6 | 1,000,000 | ± 0.25% |
| Violet | 7 | 7 | 10,000,000 | ± 0.1% |
| Grey | 8 | 8 | ± 0.05% | |
| White | 9 | 9 | ||
| Gold | 0.1 | ± 5% | ||
| Silver | 0.01 | ± 10% | ||
| None | ± 20% |
Let’s say we have a 4-band resistor with the following color codes: brown, black, brown, black. This can be decoded like this:
- 1. band = brown = 1 digit
- 2. band = black = 0 digit
- 3. band = brown = x10 multiplier
- 4. band = +/- 1% tolerance
So this is a 10×10=100-ohm resistor with a 1% tolerance. Try this out by using our Resistor Color Code Calculator or you can check it with the 4-band resistor color code chart below.
How to read a 5-band resistor color code?
If you want to decode a 5-band resistor, start reading it from left to right. The first three color bands represent significant digits, the fourth band represents the decimal multiplier, and the fifth band represents the tolerance. The exact meaning of each color codes for the 5-band resistors is given in the chart below.
5-band resistor color code chart
| COLOR CODE | BAND 1 | BAND 2 | BAND 3 | BAND 4 | BAND 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COLOR | DIGIT 1 | DIGIT 2 | DIGIT 3 | MULTIPLY | TOLERANCE |
| Black | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Brown | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ± 1% |
| Red | 2 | 2 | 2 | 100 | ± 2% |
| Orange | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1,000 | |
| Yellow | 4 | 4 | 4 | 10,000 | |
| Green | 5 | 5 | 5 | 100,000 | ± 0.5% |
| Blue | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1,000,000 | ± 0.25% |
| Violet | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10,000,000 | ± 0.1% |
| Grey | 8 | 8 | 8 | ± 0.05% | |
| White | 9 | 9 | 9 | ||
| Gold | 0.1 | ± 5% | |||
| Silver | 0.01 | ± 10% | |||
| None | ± 20% |
Let’s say we have a 5-band resistor with the following color codes: brown, green, black, orange, red. This can be decoded like this:
- 1. band = brown = 1 digit
- 2. band = green = 5 digit
- 3. band = black = 0 digit
- 4. band = orange = x1000 (1k) multiplier
- 5. band = red = +/- 2% tolerance
So this is a 150×1000=150 000-ohm (or 150K ohm) resistor with a 2% tolerance. Try this out by using our Resistor Color Code Calculator or you can check it with the 5-band resistor color code chart below.
How to read 6-band resistor color code?
Reading the 6-band resistor is easy. Start from left to right, the first three color bands represent significant digits, the fourth band represents the decimal multiplier, the fifth band represents the tolerance, and the sixth band represents the temperature coefficient. The exact meaning of each color codes for the 6-band resistors is given in the chart below.
6-band resistor color code chart
| COLOR CODE | BAND 1 | BAND 2 | BAND 3 | BAND 4 | BAND 5 | BAND 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COLOR | DIGIT 1 | DIGIT 2 | DIGIT 3 | MULTIPLY | TOLERANCE | TEMP COEFF. |
| Black | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 250 ppm/K | |
| Brown | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ± 1% | 100 ppm/K |
| Red | 2 | 2 | 2 | 100 | ± 2% | 50 ppm/K |
| Orange | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1,000 | 15 ppm/K | |
| Yellow | 4 | 4 | 4 | 10,000 | 25 ppm/K | |
| Green | 5 | 5 | 5 | 100,000 | ± 0.5% | 20 ppm/K |
| Blue | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1,000,000 | ± 0.25% | 10 ppm/K |
| Violet | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10,000,000 | ± 0.1% | 5 ppm/K |
| Grey | 8 | 8 | 8 | ± 0.05% | 1 ppm/K | |
| White | 9 | 9 | 9 | |||
| Gold | 0.1 | ± 5% | ||||
| Silver | 0.01 | ± 10% | ||||
| None | ± 20% |
So if you have the following color code: brown, yellow, black, orange, brown, and blue, that means:
- 1. band = brown = 1 digit
- 2. band = yellow = 4 digit
- 3. band = black = 0 digit
- 4. band = orange = x1000 (1k) multiplier
- 5. band = brown = +/- 1% tolerance
- 6. band = blue = 10 ppm temperature coefficient
So this is a 140×1000=140 000-ohm (or 140K ohm) resistor with a 1% tolerance and a 10 ppm temperature coefficient value. Try this out by using our Resistor Color Code Calculator or you can check it with the 6-band resistor color code chart below.
What are the resistor E-series stands for?
Resistor E-series are standard resistor values designed for inventory simplification. This means that although it is theoretically possible to produce resistors of any value only certain resistor values available. Resistor E-series consists of the E3, E6, E12, E24, E48, E96 and E192 series, where the number after the ‘E’ designates the quantity of value “steps” in each series. The E-series of preferred numbers were chosen such that when a resistor is manufactured it will end up in a range of roughly equally spaced ohm values on a logarithmic scale.
Each resistor E-series subdivides each decade magnitude into steps of 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192 values. Subdivisions of E3 to E96 ensure the maximum error will be divided in the order of 40%, 20%, 10%, 5%, 2%, 1%. Finally the E192 series contains 0.5%, 0.25% and 0.1% tolerance resistors.
As a result of this in real life many combination of the Resistor Color Code Calculator is not possible because of this resistor value standardization.
So here are the standard E-series resistor values:
E3 resistor values (40% tolerance)
- 1.0, 2.2, 4.7
E6 values (20% tolerance)
- 1.0, 1.5, 2.2, 3.3, 4.7, 6.8
E12 values (10% tolerance)
- 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, 8.2
E24 values (5% tolerance)
- 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 2.7, 3.0, 3.3, 3.6, 3.9, 4.3, 4.7, 5.1, 5.6, 6.2, 6.8, 7.5, 8.2, 9.1
E48 values (2% tolerance)
- 1.00, 1.05, 1.10, 1.15, 1.21, 1.27, 1.33, 1.40, 1.47, 1.54, 1.62, 1.69, 1.78, 1.87, 1.96, 2.05, 2.15, 2.26, 2.37, 2.49, 2.61, 2.74, 2.87, 3.01, 3.16, 3.32, 3.48, 3.65, 3.83, 4.02, 4.22, 4.42, 4.64, 4.87, 5.11, 5.36, 5.62, 5.90, 6.19, 6.49, 6.81, 7.15, 7.50, 7.87, 8.25, 8.66, 9.09, 9.53
E96 values (1% tolerance)
- 1.00, 1.02, 1.05, 1.07, 1.10, 1.13, 1.15, 1.18, 1.21, 1.24, 1.27, 1.30, 1.33, 1.37, 1.40, 1.43, 1.47, 1.50, 1.54, 1.58, 1.62, 1.65, 1.69, 1.74, 1.78, 1.82, 1.87, 1.91, 1.96, 2.00, 2.05, 2.10, 2.15, 2.21, 2.26, 2.32, 2.37, 2.43, 2.49, 2.55, 2.61, 2.67, 2.74, 2.80, 2.87, 2.94, 3.01, 3.09, 3.16, 3.24, 3.32, 3.40, 3.48, 3.57, 3.65, 3.74, 3.83, 3.92, 4.02, 4.12, 4.22, 4.32, 4.42, 4.53, 4.64, 4.75, 4.87, 4.99, 5.11, 5.23, 5.36, 5.49, 5.62, 5.76, 5.90, 6.04, 6.19, 6.34, 6.49, 6.65, 6.81, 6.98, 7.15, 7.32, 7.50, 7.68, 7.87, 8.06, 8.25, 8.45, 8.66, 8.87, 9.09, 9.31, 9.53, 9.76
E192 values (0.5% and lower tolerance)
- 1.00, 1.01, 1.02, 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07, 1.09, 1.10, 1.11, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.17, 1.18, 1.20, 1.21, 1.23, 1.24, 1.26, 1.27, 1.29, 1.30, 1.32, 1.33, 1.35, 1.37, 1.38, 1.40, 1.42, 1.43, 1.45, 1.47, 1.49, 1.50, 1.52, 1.54, 1.56, 1.58, 1.60, 1.62, 1.64, 1.65, 1.67, 1.69, 1.72, 1.74, 1.76, 1.78, 1.80, 1.82, 1.84, 1.87, 1.89, 1.91, 1.93, 1.96, 1.98, 2.00, 2.03, 2.05, 2.08, 2.10, 2.13, 2.15, 2.18, 2.21, 2.23, 2.26, 2.29, 2.32, 2.34, 2.37, 2.40, 2.43, 2.46, 2.49, 2.52, 2.55, 2.58, 2.61, 2.64, 2.67, 2.71, 2.74, 2.77, 2.80, 2.84, 2.87, 2.91, 2.94, 2.98, 3.01, 3.05, 3.09, 3.12, 3.16, 3.20, 3.24, 3.28, 3.32, 3.36, 3.40, 3.44, 3.48, 3.52, 3.57, 3.61, 3.65, 3.70, 3.74, 3.79, 3.83, 3.88, 3.92, 3.97, 4.02, 4.07, 4.12, 4.17, 4.22, 4.27, 4.32, 4.37, 4.42, 4.48, 4.53, 4.59, 4.64, 4.70, 4.75, 4.81, 4.87, 4.93, 4.99, 5.05, 5.11, 5.17, 5.23, 5.30, 5.36, 5.42, 5.49, 5.56, 5.62, 5.69, 5.76, 5.83, 5.90, 5.97, 6.04, 6.12, 6.19, 6.26, 6.34, 6.42, 6.49, 6.57, 6.65, 6.73, 6.81, 6.90, 6.98, 7.06, 7.15, 7.23, 7.32, 7.41, 7.50, 7.59, 7.68, 7.77, 7.87, 7.96, 8.06, 8.16, 8.25, 8.35, 8.45, 8.56, 8.66, 8.76, 8.87, 8.98, 9.09, 9.20, 9.31, 9.42, 9.53, 9.65, 9.76, 9.88