What Is the 220 Ohm Resistor Color Code?

220 Ω at ±5% is Red-Red-Brown-Gold, and at ±1% it is Red-Red-Black-Black-Brown. Both decode to 220, and the arithmetic runs the same way in each case: significant digits, then a multiplier, then tolerance.

A 5% part is allowed to land anywhere from 209 Ω to 231 Ω. A 1% part stays inside 217.8 Ω to 222.2 Ω. The band count is the only visual clue telling you which one is in your hand.

Four bands put the multiplier in the third position; five bands push it to the fourth and use the third for another digit. That single structural difference is what makes a 1% part hard to read at a glance.

Which End Do You Start Reading From?

Start at the end opposite the tolerance band, which sits farther from the group than the others do. That gap is the only orientation cue the part gives you, and it works cleanly whenever a gold or silver band is present.

Gold marks ±5% and silver marks ±10%, so spotting either one settles the direction immediately. Read from the other side.

But what about 1% parts? Their tolerance band is brown, and brown is also a perfectly ordinary first band. On a five-band 1% resistor you can end up with brown at both ends, and no way to tell them apart by eye.

So use the value itself as the tiebreaker. Read the bands in both directions and keep the one that lands on a standard E-series value. 47 is a real value; 74 isn't. 330 is real; the reverse reading of 71k isn't.

That check resolves almost every ambiguous part in a second.

Two other habits worth building. Black is zero, not one — the digit sequence starts at black for 0 and runs to white for 9, so counting black as 1 shifts everything you read.

And if you're measuring rather than reading, do it out of circuit. Parallel paths around the part will drag the number down and send you chasing a value that was never wrong.

The Red-Red Family: Where 220 Ohm Gets Missed

Five standard values open with two red bands, and only the third band separates them. Change that one band by a single color step and the resistance moves by a factor of ten.

Read the highlighted row and you have the whole trap. Brown in the third position gives 220 Ω; black in the same position gives 22 Ω. Both parts carry two red bands and a gold band, and the difference between them is one color step.

Now the five-band version. A 1% 220 Ω reads Red-Red-Black-Black-Brown, and those first four bands spell out 2-2-0-times-1 — which looks a great deal like a four-band code for something else entirely.

Three more things that go wrong with the bands themselves:

• Brown, red and orange blur together on faded, cheap or blue-bodied metal-film parts, and under warm indoor light. Those three sit next to each other in the digit sequence, so confusing them costs you a decade.
• A reversed reading still looks plausible. That's exactly why the E-series check matters — an invalid reverse like 74 or 29 will never match a standard value, so a real value in both directions is your warning sign.
• Gold and silver aren't always tolerance. On parts below 10 Ω they show up as multipliers (×0.1 and ×0.01), so the "read from the far end" rule loses its anchor there.

The tolerance band is doing more work than the value bands on a tight design. Switching a 220 Ω position from 5% to 1% cuts the spread from 22 Ω wide to 4.4 Ω wide.

On a divider or a sense resistor, that's the difference between a design that holds and one that drifts.

Color Code vs. Chip Marking: The Same 220 Ohm, Different Label

A chip resistor carries no color bands at all — it carries a numeric code, and the same 220 Ω value prints as 221 at 5% and 2200 at 1%. If your incoming inspection is trained on color bands, nothing on a reel of 0603s will trigger it.

The trap buried in that table is that 220 is not 220 Ω. In the three-digit system, 220 decodes as 22 times 10 to the zero — which is 22 Ω. The 220 Ω part is 221. Add a single digit and the value moves by a factor of ten.

Digit count is the fastest tolerance check you have. Three digits on the body generally means a 5% part from the E24 series; four digits generally means 1% from E96. It's a guideline rather than a law, but on a mixed reel it takes a second.

Below 0603 there isn't room for four digits, so 1% parts switch to EIA-96 — two digits indexing a value table, plus a letter for the multiplier. A 0603 marked 22A is 165 Ω at 1%, and you can't decode it without the table in front of you.

And 0402 and smaller carry no marking whatsoever. There's nothing to inspect visually, so the reel label and the lot record become the only identification the part has.

One more thing worth knowing before you specify 220 Ω at 1%: 220 is an E24 value, not an E96 value. The E96 series steps from 215 to 221 and skips 220 entirely.

Manufacturers do build 1% parts in E24 values, so the part exists and is stocked. But a vendor line labeling a 220 Ω 1% resistor as "E96" is using the series name loosely — check the part number, not the series label.

"220 Ω" on its own isn't a purchasable specification. Four things decide which part you actually receive: tolerance, package, power rating and temperature coefficient. Two parts sharing a value and a tolerance will still behave differently in the same board position if their power ratings or TCR differ.

Why is 220 Ω everywhere in the first place? LED current limiting. On a 5V rail, a 220 Ω series resistor sets roughly 8mA through a green or blue LED and roughly 14mA through a red one.

That's the range most indicator designs want. One application, and it's why the value shows up on almost every bill of materials you'll touch.

Where to Source 220 Ohm Resistors

Resistors are the largest category ICMASS stocks, spanning through-hole, chip and network formats. If you're specifying 220 Ω for production, the value is available across the common tolerances and package sizes, and the part number tells you which one you're getting.

Two practical notes when you order. Quote the full specification rather than the value alone, since "220 Ω" leaves tolerance, package and power rating open.

And if a 1% part is heading onto a line where incoming inspection matters, ask which marking convention the manufacturer uses. Chip resistors don't all carry the same code.

Browse the range at ICMASS resistors, or send us the specification and we'll confirm stock and marking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What is the color code for a 220 ohm resistor?

A: Red-Red-Brown-Gold for a four-band, ±5% part. The bands read 2, 2, ×10, giving 220 Ω within 5%. Precision parts use five bands and read Red-Red-Black-Black-Brown for 220 Ω at 1%. Both are the same nominal value; the band count tells you the tolerance grade.

Q2: How do I know which end of a resistor to start reading from?

A: Read from the end opposite the tolerance band, which sits farther from the group. Gold (±5%) or silver (±10%) in that position makes it obvious. On a five-band 1% part the tolerance band is brown and may match the first band, so read both directions and keep the one that lands on a standard E-series value.

Q3: Why does my 220 ohm resistor read as 22 ohm?

A: Because the band you read as the multiplier sits one step too low. Red-Red-Black-Gold is 22 Ω; 220 Ω needs Brown in the third position. The family is easy to misread because 22 Ω, 220 Ω, 2.2k Ω, 22k Ω and 220k Ω all begin with two red bands.

Q4: What does 221 mean on a chip resistor?

A: 221 is the three-digit marking for 220 Ω. In that system the first two digits are significant figures and the third is the power of ten, so 22 × 10¹ = 220 Ω. Don't confuse it with 220, which decodes to 22 Ω — the two differ by exactly one digit.

Q5: Is a 220 ohm 1% resistor a standard value?

A: 220 Ω is a standard E24 value, and the E96 series carries 221 Ω instead. Manufacturers do produce 1% parts in E24 values, so a 220 Ω 1% resistor is a normal, stocked component. If a listing calls it "E96," treat that as a loose series label and confirm the part number.

Q6: Can I measure a resistor in circuit?

A: Not reliably. Parallel paths around the part pull the reading low, and in solid-state circuits the surrounding components conduct in ways that shift with the meter's test voltage. Lift one leg or remove the part entirely if you need a number you can trust.