HOW TO READ RESISTOR VALUES

Resistor values are marked on the resistors by the means of color bands. Standard 5%, 10% or 20% tolerance resistors use a 4 color bands scheme while 1% and 2% use a 5 color bands scheme. The first two bands represent the most significant digits of the resistors value. Colors are assigned to all the numbers between 0 and 9, and the color bands basically translate the numbers into a visible code. Black is 0, brown is 1, red is 2 and so on (see the color code table below). 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.
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).

The tolerance band (the deviation from the specified value) is next, usually spaced away from the others, or it's a little bit wider. A color is assigned to each tolerance: gold is 5%, silver is 10%. 20% resistors have only 3 color bands - the tolerance band is missing. The 5 band code is used for marking high quality, precision resistors with 2%, 1% or lower tolerances. The rules are similar to the previous system; the only difference is the number of digit bands. The first 3 bands will represent the value, the 4th band will be the multiplier and the 5th stripe will give us the tolerance.

Resistor color code table: