Resistor Color Code Calculator

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As shown above, a carbon-composition resistor can have 4 to 6 bands. A 5-band resistor is more precise compared to a 4-band type because of the inclusion of a third signficant digit. A 6-band resistor is like a 5-band resistor but includes a temperature coefficient band (the 6th band).

	4-band	5-band	6-band
1st band	1st significant digit	1st significant digit	1st significant digit
2nd band	2nd significant digit	2nd significant digit	2nd significant digit
3rd band	multiplier	3rd significant digit	3rd significant digit
4th band	tolerance	multiplier	multiplier
5th band	N/A	tolerance	tolerance
6th band	N/A	N/A	temperature coefficient

Each color represents a number if it's located from the 1st to 2nd band for a 4-band type or 1st to 3rd band for a 5-band and 6-band type.

Color	Value
Black (2nd and 3rd bands only)	0
Brown	1
Red	2
Orange	3
Yellow	4
Green	5
Blue	6
Violet	7
Grey	8
White	9

If the color is found on the 3rd band for a 4-band type or the 4th band for a 5-band and 6-band type, then it's a multiplier.

Color	Value
Black	x1
Brown	x10
Red	x100
Orange	x1000
Yellow	x10000
Green	x100000
Blue	x1000000
Violet	x10000000
Grey	x100000000
White	x1000000000

Notice that the number of zeroes is equal to the color's number as per the previous table.

The fourth band (or 5th for the 5-band and 6-band) indicates the tolerance values. Here, two colors are added (gold and silver).

Color	Value
Black	N/A
Brown	±1%
Red	±2%
Orange	±3%
Yellow	±4%
Green	±0.5%
Blue	±0.25%
Violet	±0.15%
Grey	±0.05%
White	N/A
Gold	±5%
Silver	±10%

The 6th band for a 6-band type resistor is the temperature coefficient. This indicates how much the actual resistance value of the resistor changes when the temperature changes.

Color	Value
Black	N/A
Brown	100 ppm/ºC
Red	50 ppm/ºC
Orange	15 ppm/ºC
Yellow	25 ppm/ºC
Green	N/A
Blue	10 ppm/ºC
Violet	5 ppm/ºC
Grey	N/A
White	N/A