Resistor Color Code Calculator and Chart—4 Band, 5 Band, or 6 Band Resistors

How to Use the Resistor Color Code Calculator

Are you having trouble reading resistor color codes? If your answer is yes, this tool is specifically designed for you! Our Resistor Color Code Calculator is a handy tool for reading carbon-composition resistors, whether it's a 4 band, 5 band, or 6 band type. 

To use this tool, simply click on a particular color and number and watch how the actual bands on the resistor illustration change. The resistance value is displayed on the field below, together with the tolerance and the temperature coefficient.  

Resistor Color Bands

As shown above, a carbon-composition resistor can have 4 to 6 bands. A 5-band resistor is more precise than a 4-band type because of the inclusion of a third significant digit. A 6-band resistor is like a 5-band resistor but includes a temperature coefficient band (the 6th band). Below (Table 1), you can see an overview of the different band types.

Table 1. An overview of the different bands in a resistor.

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. Table 2 shows the different band colors and their values. 

Table 2. Resistor colors and values.

Mnemonics were created to easily memorize the sequence of the colors. The most popular mnemonic is "Big Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins" where the first letter of each word corresponds to the first letter of the color. 

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. as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Resistor colors and value multiplier.

Notice that the number of zeroes equals the color's number as per the previous table.

The 4th band (or 5th for the 5 band and 6 band) indicates the tolerance values. Here, two colors are added (gold and silver).

Table 4. Resistor colors and tolerance values, including gold and silver.

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. Table 5 shows these values for each corresponding color. 

Table 5. Resistor color and temperature coefficients.

All 5 band resistors with the 4th band of silver or gold form an exception and are utilized on specific or older resistors. The first two bands represent the significant digits, the 3rd band is a multiplication factor, the 4th band is for tolerance, and the 5th band is for the temperature coefficient (ppm/K).

Deviating Resistor Band Colors

To prevent metal and other particles from getting in the coating of high-voltage resistors, the gold and silver bands are often replaced with yellow and gray bands.

Single Black Resistor Band or Zero Ohm Resistor

A single black band on a resistor is called a zero-ohm resistor.  Basically, it is a wire link used to connect traces on a printed circuit board (PCB) that is packaged in the same physical package format as a resistor. This packaging allows the zero-ohm resistor to be placed on the circuit board using the equipment typically used to place other resistors.

Resistance Reliability Band

When resistors are produced per military specifications, they will often include a band that indicates reliability. This band is specifically for failure rate percentage per 1000 hours of service. This band is rarely used in commercial electronics. In addition, 4 band resistors typically use this reliability band.

More information about this can be found in the US military handbook MIL-HDBK-199.

Further Reading

• Textbook - Resistor: Ohm's Law
• Textbook - Resistor Color Codes
• Worksheet - Resistors
• Understanding Electrical Resistance