REFERENCE · ELECTRONICS · CHARTS
Read any through-hole resistor in seconds: yellow · violet · red · gold = 4.7 kΩ ±5%. Decode colors to ohms below, work backwards from a value to its bands, or check whether a value is a standard E12 part — with the full printable chart underneath.
Pick the bands from left to right, starting at the end opposite the tolerance band (the gold or silver band, or the one with a gap before it). The calculator multiplies the digit bands by the multiplier and applies the tolerance.
Enter the resistance you need and get the color bands to paint — or to recognize on a parts list. Values that aren’t exact band markings are rounded to the nearest one, and the tolerance band is shown as gold (±5%).
Real resistors come in standard E-series values — the E12 series (±10%) is the everyday one. Check whether your value is stocked everywhere, or find the nearest standard values above and below.
Value = (digit bands) × (multiplier), ± (tolerance). On a 4-band resistor the first two bands are digits and the third is the multiplier; on a 5-band resistor the first three are digits and the fourth is the multiplier. The last band is always the tolerance. At the defaults: yellow (4) · violet (7) · red (×100) · gold (±5%) = 47 × 100 = 4,700 Ω = 4.7 kΩ ±5%.
| Color | Digit | Color | Digit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 0 | Green | 5 |
| Brown | 1 | Blue | 6 |
| Red | 2 | Violet | 7 |
| Orange | 3 | Gray | 8 |
| Yellow | 4 | White | 9 |
| Color | Multiplier | Color | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | ×1 | Blue | ×1M |
| Brown | ×10 | Violet | ×10M |
| Red | ×100 | Gray | ×100M |
| Orange | ×1k | White | ×1B |
| Yellow | ×10k | Gold | ×0.1 |
| Green | ×100k | Silver | ×0.01 |
| Color | Tolerance | Color | Tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown | ±1% | Gray | ±0.05% |
| Red | ±2% | Gold | ±5% |
| Green | ±0.5% | Silver | ±10% |
| Blue | ±0.25% | None | ±20% |
| Violet | ±0.1% |
| Color | ppm/K | Color | ppm/K |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown | 100 | Blue | 10 |
| Red | 50 | Violet | 5 |
| Orange | 15 | White | 1 |
| Yellow | 25 |
| Multiply by any power of ten | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 33 | 39 | 47 | 56 | 68 | 82 |
Setup: a resistor marked yellow · violet · red · gold, read left to right starting opposite the gold band.
Step 1 — decode. Yellow = 4, violet = 7 → digits 47. Red multiplier = ×100. 47 × 100 = 4,700 Ω = 4.7 kΩ. Gold tolerance = ±5%, so the real part measures between 4,465 Ω and 4,935 Ω.
Step 2 — encode. Working backwards from 4,700 Ω: two significant digits 47 → yellow · violet; the remaining factor is 100 → red; tolerance shown as gold. Bands: yellow · violet · red · gold — the round trip checks out.
Step 3 — 5-band version. Three digits: 4-7-0 → yellow · violet · black; multiplier ×10 → brown; tolerance gold. Same 4.7 kΩ, one extra digit of marking precision.
Step 4 — the E12 check. 4,700 Ω sits on the E12 grid (47 × 100) — standard, stocked everywhere. But 5,000 Ω is not an E12 value: the nearest standards are 4.7 kΩ below and 5.6 kΩ above. Design to one of those instead of hunting a custom part.
| Output | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal value | digits × multiplier | 4.7 kΩ at the defaults — what the bands say the resistor is. |
| Tolerance | last band | ±5% at the defaults — the real part is 4,465–4,935 Ω. |
| Color bands | digits → colors, 10^exp → color | Yellow · violet · red · gold for 4,700 Ω — the bands to paint or recognize. |
| E12 verdict | value on the 12-per-decade grid? | Standard for 4,700 Ω; 5,000 Ω falls between 4.7k and 5.6k. |
The color code follows IEC 60062, so the chart is exact — the uncertainty is in reading, not the standard: heat-darkened bands, red/orange/brown confusion under warm light, and tiny 0402 parts where the bands are printed, not painted. The E12 grid here is the ±10% series from IEC 60063; precision designs use E24 (±5%), E48 (±2%), or E96 (±1%). Tolerance bands on real parts are a manufacturing guarantee, not a measurement — a ±5% part can still be 4.9% off and be “in spec.” When it matters, verify with a multimeter.
Bright Side Kit. "Resistor Color Code Chart: Decode & Encode Calculator." https://brightoolbox.com/resistor-color-code-chart/ Accessed October 23, 2026.Data sources“BBROYGBVGW.” Say it as bib-roy-gee-biv-gw: Black (0), Brown (1), Red (2), Orange (3), Yellow (4), Green (5), Blue (6), Violet (7), Gray (8), White (9) — the rainbow in order with black, brown, gray, and white attached. A common sentence mnemonic is “Bad Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins.” Gold and silver never appear in the digit list.
They’re not digits. Gold and silver mean ×0.1 and ×0.01 as multipliers (for sub-ohm resistors like 4.7 Ω and 0.47 Ω) and ±5% / ±10% as tolerances. They can’t be digits because the digit scale runs 0–9, so a “gold first band” is always a reading-direction mistake — flip the resistor around.
Start opposite the tolerance band. The tolerance band (gold, silver, or brown on precision parts) sits slightly apart from the others — there’s a visible gap before it. Read from the end away from that band. If there’s no tolerance band, start at the end nearest the body’s edge.
Temperature coefficient — how much the resistance drifts per degree, in ppm/K. Brown = 100, red = 50, orange = 15, yellow = 25, blue = 10, violet = 5, white = 1 ppm/K. It only appears on high-stability precision resistors; most parts you’ll meet stop at 5 bands.
Count the bands before the tolerance gap. Two digit bands + multiplier = 4-band (typical ±5%/±10% part). Three digit bands + multiplier = 5-band (typical ±1%/±2% precision part). The extra digit is why a 5-band part can be marked 4.70 kΩ while a 4-band part is just 4.7 kΩ.
Standard value grids. E12 has 12 values per decade (±10% parts), E24 has 24 (±5%), E48 has 48 (±2%), and E96 has 96 (±1%). The sparser the grid, the cheaper and more available the parts. Design to E12 whenever the circuit allows — a 5,000 Ω resistor costs more than a 4.7 kΩ one simply because nobody stocks it.
No — it’s in spec. ±5% of 4,700 Ω is ±235 Ω, so anything from 4,465 to 4,935 Ω is a good part. Tolerance is a manufacturing guarantee band, not a promise of the marked value. Only worry if it reads outside the band — or reads open or shorted.