Green and blue are the first significant digits (56) brown is the multiplier (10 1 = 10) and gold is the tolerance (5%). So, for a 560 ohm, 5% resistor the color stripes will be green, blue, brown and gold.

The standard resistor color code table: Color 20% resistors have only 3 color bands - the tolerance band is missing. A color is assigned to each tolerance: gold is 5%, silver is 10%. The tolerance band (the deviation from the specified value) is next, usually spaced away from the others, or it's a little bit wider. Note: If the multiplier band is gold or silver, the decimal point is moved to the left by one or two places (divided by 10 or 100). So, for the resistor we used in the previous example, the value would be: 12 x 100 = 1200Ω (1.2kΩ). For example, if this band is red (2), you will multiply it by 10 2 = 100 (or add 2 zeros). The third band indicates the multiplier telling you the power of ten to which the two significant digits must be multiplied (or how many zeros to add), using the same assigned value for each color as in the previous step.

So, for example, if a resistor has brown and red as the first two bands, the most significant digits will be 1 and 2 (12). Black is 0, brown is 1, red is 2 and so on (see the color code table below). Colors are assigned to all the numbers between 0 and 9, and the color bands basically translate the numbers into a visible code. The first two bands represent the most significant digits of the resistance value. Identifying the value will become easy with a little practice, as there are only a few simple rules to remember: The 4-band code is used for marking low precision resistors with 5%, 10% and 20% tolerances. Tip: See also the resistor value to color code calculator on this page.

4 band resistor color code