Resistor Color Decoder

Select the colors of the bands on your 4-band resistor to find its resistance value and tolerance.

Select Color for Band 1

Resistance Value

1k Ω

Tolerance: +/- 5% (Gold)

How to read resistors

I genuinely believe that the resistor color code is one of the most clever bits of industrial design. Before we had tiny laser printing, colors were the only way to identify components. A standard 4-band resistor uses the first two colors as digits, the third as a multiplier (how many zeros to add), and the fourth as the tolerance.

Tolerance matters: If you're building a simple LED circuit, a 10% (Silver) tolerance is fine. But if you're building a precision audio amplifier, you want 1% or better. A 1k Ohm resistor with 10% tolerance could actually be anywhere from 900 to 1,100 Ohms!

Memory Aid (Mnemonics):

Bad Boys: Black (0), Brown (1)
Ravish Our: Red (2), Orange (3)
Young Girls: Yellow (4), Green (5)
But Violet: Blue (6), Violet (7)
Gives Willingly: Gray (8), White (9)