Resistor Color Code Calculator
Pick the color bands on a 4, 5 or 6-band resistor to read its value, or enter a resistance to find the matching bands — with a live visual.
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Reading a Resistor by Its Bands
A resistor's value is printed as colored bands rather than numbers. The first two (or three, on 5/6-band resistors) bands are significant digits, the next band is a power-of-ten multiplier, and the last is the tolerance — a 6th band adds a temperature coefficient (ppm/°C).
Pick your resistor's band count and colors to read the value, or switch modes and type a resistance to see which bands to expect — both directions update a live drawing of the resistor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between 4, 5 and 6-band resistors?
4-band: 2 significant digits + multiplier + tolerance (most common, general-purpose resistors). 5-band: 3 significant digits + multiplier + tolerance (higher precision). 6-band: adds a temperature coefficient band after the tolerance.
Why does gold or silver appear as a multiplier?
For resistors under 10Ω, the multiplier band can be gold (×0.1) or silver (×0.01) instead of a power-of-ten digit color — this lets low-value resistors be coded with the same digit bands.
The value-to-color mode gave me an unusual result — why?
Not every resistance value maps to a standard color combination that a real manufactured resistor would use (see the E12/E24 standard value series) — this tool shows the mathematically correct bands for the number you typed, which is a useful reference even if that exact value isn't a common stocked part.
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Resistor Color Code Calculator