Inductor Color Code Calculator
Select the three color bands on an inductor to find its inductance value.
How inductor color codes work
Small axial inductors use a color-band system similar to resistors. The first two bands give significant digits, and the third band is a multiplier in microhenries (µH) — the same color-to-number mapping used for resistor color codes.
For example, brown-black-brown reads as 1, 0, ×10, giving 10 × 10 = 100 µH. Gold and silver multiplier bands represent ×0.1 and ×0.01 respectively, for very small inductance values.
Frequently asked questions
Is the inductor color code the same as the resistor color code?
The color-to-digit mapping is identical to resistor color codes (black=0, brown=1, red=2, and so on), but inductor codes give a value in microhenries (µH) instead of ohms.
How many color bands do inductors typically have?
Small axial inductors commonly use 3 or 4 bands. A 4-band version adds a tolerance band after the multiplier, similar to resistors, which this calculator doesn't need since it only decodes the inductance value.
What's a typical inductance value for these components?
Color-coded axial inductors typically range from about 0.1 µH to several thousand µH (a few mH), commonly used in RF circuits, filters, and power supply chokes.