How to read resistor color bands
Hold the resistor so the tolerance band, usually gold or silver and often set slightly apart, is on the right. Then read left to right.
On a 4-band resistor, the first two bands are digits, the third is the multiplier, and the fourth is the tolerance. Yellow, violet, red, gold means 4, 7, ×100, ±5%, which is 4.7 kΩ ±5%.
On a 5-band resistor, the first three bands are digits. These are usually precision parts with 1% or tighter tolerance. Brown, black, black, red, brown means 1, 0, 0, ×100, ±1%, which is 10 kΩ ±1%.
Color code chart
| Color | Digit | Multiplier | Tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 0 | ×1 | |
| Brown | 1 | ×10 | ±1% |
| Red | 2 | ×100 | ±2% |
| Orange | 3 | ×1k | |
| Yellow | 4 | ×10k | |
| Green | 5 | ×100k | ±0.5% |
| Blue | 6 | ×1M | ±0.25% |
| Violet | 7 | ×10M | ±0.1% |
| Grey | 8 | ×100M | ±0.05% |
| White | 9 | ×1G | |
| Gold | ×0.1 | ±5% | |
| Silver | ×0.01 | ±10% | |
| None | ±20% |
Frequently asked questions
Which end do I start reading from?
Start from the end farthest from the gold or silver band. If both ends look similar, the first band is usually closer to the lead. A first band can never be gold, silver or black.
What does 4k7 mean?
It is a way of writing 4.7 kΩ where the letter replaces the decimal point, so it survives printing errors. R47 means 0.47 Ω and 2M2 means 2.2 MΩ. You can type any of these into the calculator above.
Why can’t a value be shown exactly?
A 4-band resistor only has two significant digits, so 4.75 kΩ needs a 5-band part. The calculator rounds to the nearest value it can show and tells you when it did.