Resistor Color Code

Digit   Color  Multiplier Number of
trailing
zeros
0 BLACK  1 0
1 BROWN  10 1
2 RED  100 2
3 ORANGE  1 k 3
4 YELLOW  10 k 4
5 GREEN  100 k 5
6 BLUE  1 M 6
7 VIOLET  10 M 7
8 GRAY    
9 WHITE    

Example: For a common carbon resistor,
three bands colored red-yellow-orange
indicates 2 4 000 ohm or 24 k ohm.

Start reading from the band closest to an end.

- -
1st digit ^  
2nd digit ^  
Multiplier ^  
Tolerance ^   red = 2%
  gold = 5%
  silver = 10%
  none = 20%

Please note that precision resistors usually
show three digits followed by a multiplier.
Metal film resistors are typically within 1% of the marked value.

Resistor Decoder


Reference: http://www.physics.udel.edu/~watson/phys345/lab/color-code.html
Last updated August 14, 1998.
Copyright George Watson, Univ. of Delaware, 1998.

Maintained locally by John Loomis, last updated 19 July 2007