Resistor Color Code Table
| Color | Digit | Multiplier | Tolerance | EIA letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 0 | ×1 | — | — |
| Brown | 1 | ×10 | ±1% | F |
| Red | 2 | ×100 | ±2% | G |
| Orange | 3 | ×1k | ±0.05% (carbon-era ±3%) | W |
| Yellow | 4 | ×10k | ±0.02% (carbon-era ±4%) | P |
| Green | 5 | ×100k | ±0.5% | D |
| Blue | 6 | ×1M | ±0.25% | C |
| Violet | 7 | ×10M | ±0.1% | B |
| Grey | 8 | ×100M | ±0.01% | L |
| White | 9 | ×1G | — | — |
| Gold | — | ×0.1 | ±5% | J |
| Silver | — | ×0.01 | ±10% | K |
| None | — | — | ±20% | M |
The color bands are the only datasheet a resistor has, and they read as a two-digit number plus a power of ten: first band is the first digit, second band the second digit, third band the number of zeros. Yellow-violet-red is 4, 7, two zeros = 4,700 ohms = 4.7 kilohm, and the gold band after it says that value is guaranteed within 5%. The full twelve-color ladder is in the table below, and two colors never act as digits: gold and silver shrink the multiplier instead (x0.1, x0.01) for resistors below one ohm, and they mark the loosest tolerances (5%, 10%).
Reading direction is built into the layout, not memorized: the tolerance band sits at the far right, separated by a wider gap from the others, so you hold the resistor with that band on the right and read from the left. On a 5-band precision part the first three bands are digits and the fourth is the multiplier - brown-black-black-brown means 100 x 10 = 1,000 ohms with a fifth band (often brown, 1%) as tolerance. One more wrinkle the table makes honest: orange and yellow carried tolerance duties in the carbon-film era (3% and 4%), values you will still meet in old equipment, while modern film parts use the tight entries shown - the digit and multiplier columns have not changed since the code was standardized.
How to use
- Orient the part: tolerance band (gold, silver, or a wide gap) to the right. The three banded-together stripes read left to right as digit, digit, zeros-to-append.
- Convert the third band to zeros: red appends two (x100), yellow appends four (x10,000), and if the third band is gold or silver the multiplier divides instead - giving sub-ohm values like 4.7 ohm (yellow-violet-gold-gold).
- Check the result against the E-series: standard resistors come in value ladders like 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 2.2, 3.3, 4.7 per decade, so 4.7 kilohm exists but 4.6 kilohm does not - if your reading lands off-ladder, you likely read from the wrong end.
Frequently asked questions
What is the color code for a 4.7k resistor?
Yellow, violet, red, gold: 4 (yellow), 7 (violet), two zeros (red) = 4,700 ohms, with gold promising 5% tolerance. The same value in the 5-band precision format reads yellow-violet-black-red-brown, adding the third digit zero explicitly and tightening tolerance to 1%. 4.7k is not an arbitrary pick: it is a standard E12/E24 value, one of the ladder values (1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, 8.2) that resistor manufacturing actually produces, which is exactly why so many textbook examples land on it - and why a reading that lands between ladder values is a hint you started from the tolerance end.
How do I tell which end of a resistor to start reading from?
Use the tolerance band as the anchor: it is set in from the end with a visibly wider gap, and it is usually gold or silver - colors that never appear in the digit positions. Hold the part so that band is on the right and read the groups on the left. Two backup checks when bands look ambiguous: first, a digit band can never be gold or silver, so if your first band reads gold you are backwards; second, sanity-check against the E-series ladder - a resistor claiming 4.6 kilohm or 830 ohms does not exist as a standard value, while 4.7k and 820 ohms do, so flip the reading if yours lands off-ladder. On old carbon parts with faded pinkish bodies, the first band sometimes sits closest to one end by design - that end is the start.
What is the difference between 4-band and 5-band resistors?
Precision format: a 4-band part carries two digit bands, a multiplier and tolerance - good for the 2% to 10% tolerance range where two significant figures are all the factory guarantees. A 5-band part adds a third digit band before the multiplier, expressing values like 4,700 ohms exactly (yellow-violet-black-red) and pairing with tight tolerances - 1% brown and 0.5% green are the everyday precision grades, with the table's tighter entries down to 0.01% appearing on metal-film specials. The consequence for reading: on a 5-band part the multiplier is the fourth band, not the third, so yellow-violet-black-red is 470 ohms x 10 = 4.7 kilohm while the same first three colors on a 4-band part would read differently - identify the format before you read, again via the isolated tolerance band at the right end.
Why do gold and silver bands mean different things in different positions?
The code assigns each color a role per column, and gold and silver only occupy the multiplier and tolerance columns - never the digit column. As a multiplier band, gold divides by ten and silver by a hundred, which is how the code reaches sub-ohm values: yellow-violet-silver-gold is 47 x 0.1 = 4.7 ohms, and yellow-violet-gold-gold is 4.7 x 0.1 = 0.47 ohms. As the tolerance band, they mark the loose end of the market: 5% gold on commodity carbon-film parts, 10% silver on old or cost-driven stock. That double duty is why the orientation rule matters more on these parts than anywhere else - the same physical band colors appear at both ends of loose-tolerance resistors, and only the wider gap before the tolerance band tells you which reading order the factory meant.