Most resistors have three, four or five color bands. The first band is the one closest to the end of the resistor body.

	Color Band Number
	1	2	3	4	5
3 Bands	Digit	Digit	Multiplier	**	None
4 Bands	Digit	Digit	Multiplier	Tolerance	None
5 Bands	Digit	Digit	Digit	Multiplier	Tolerance

** All 3 band resistors are 20% tolerance.

Color		Digit	Multiplier	Tolerance %
Black		0	1	+/- 20
Brown		1	10	+/- 1
Red		2	100	+/- 2
Orange		3	1,000	+/- 3
Yellow		4	10,000	+/- 4
Green		5	100,000	-
Blue		6	1,000,000	-
Violet		7	10,000,000	-
Gray		8	100,000,000	-
White		9		-
Gold		-	0.1	+/- 5
Silver		-	0.01	+/- 10
No Color		-		+/- 20

For an interactive resistor calculator click here.