Number of bands
4 bands
5 bands
6 bands
? Four bands use two significant digits, a multiplier and tolerance. Five bands use three digits. Six bands add a temperature coefficient. Changing this selection shows the corresponding fields.
Direction
Colours → resistance
Resistance → colours
? Decode selected colour bands into resistance, or enter resistance to get its colour bands. Encoding requires an exactly representable value for the chosen number of bands; values are not silently rounded.
First digit Brown · 1 Red · 2 Orange · 3 Yellow · 4 Green · 5 Blue · 6 Violet · 7 Grey · 8 White · 9 ? First significant digit of the resistance. Black is excluded because the first digit cannot be zero. The multiplier is applied after combining all significant digits.
Second digit Black · 0 Brown · 1 Red · 2 Orange · 3 Yellow · 4 Green · 5 Blue · 6 Violet · 7 Grey · 8 White · 9 ? Second significant digit, from zero to nine. Together with the first digit, and the third when present, it forms the number before the multiplier is applied.
Multiplier colour Black · ×1 Brown · ×10 Red · ×100 Orange · ×1,000 Yellow · ×10,000 Green · ×100,000 Blue · ×1,000,000 Violet · ×10,000,000 Grey · ×100,000,000 White · ×1,000,000,000 Gold · ×0.1 Silver · ×0.01 ? Multiply the significant digits by the factor shown beside the colour. Gold multiplies by 0.1 and silver by 0.01; other colours use powers of ten. The result is in ohms.
Tolerance colour Brown · ±1% Red · ±2% Green · ±0.5% Blue · ±0.25% Violet · ±0.1% Grey · ±0.05% Gold · ±5% Silver · ±10% ? Allowed deviation above and below the nominal resistance, shown as a percentage beside the colour. This sets the calculated minimum and maximum; it does not change the nominal resistance.
Read axial resistor bands from the first significant digit towards the tolerance band. Four bands use two digits; five and six use three. Colour names accompany the diagram so colour alone is not required.
The six-band coefficient is in ppm/°C, not percent. A decoded value does not establish power rating, condition or a measured resistance. Check the part datasheet; zero-ohm and special markings are outside this tool.
