Capacitor Color Code
Decode the (legacy) capacitor color-band system.
Overview
The Capacitor Color Code decoder reads the (mostly legacy) colour-band scheme used on older film and ceramic capacitors and returns the nominal capacitance, tolerance and working voltage. It mirrors the resistor band system but with different multiplier and tolerance tables tailored to capacitor values.
This is useful for hobbyists restoring vintage radios and amplifiers, electronics students reading museum schematics and PCB assemblers working through a tin of unlabelled parts. Long-tail queries it answers include "decode 5-band capacitor colour code", "vintage capacitor brown black orange value" and "polyester film capacitor colour chart".
How it works
The decoder takes up to five colour bands. The first two bands encode the first two significant digits of the capacitance, the third is the decimal multiplier (in picofarads), the fourth is the tolerance percentage and the fifth, when present, is the working DC voltage. The colour-to-digit table is shared with the EIA resistor code: black 0, brown 1, red 2, orange 3, yellow 4, green 5, blue 6, violet 7, grey 8, white 9.
Tolerance uses a separate colour mapping (e.g. black 20%, white 10%, green 5%) that varies slightly by capacitor family. The decoder defaults to the most common polyester / mica convention and notes when a value is ambiguous.
Examples
brown black orange → 10 × 10³ pF = 10 nF (10,000 pF)
red red yellow → 22 × 10⁴ pF = 220 nF (0.22 µF)
yellow violet brown → 47 × 10¹ pF = 470 pF
brown black red white → 1000 pF, 10% tolerance
FAQ
Are colour-coded capacitors still made?
Rarely. Most modern capacitors are printed with numeric codes (e.g. "104" for 100 nF). Colour bands are mostly found on parts manufactured before the 1990s.
Why do some references show different tolerance colours?
The tolerance code differs slightly between mica, polyester and ceramic capacitor standards. When in doubt, measure the part with a capacitance meter.
Does the code include voltage?
Sometimes. A fifth band, where present, indicates the maximum DC working voltage. Many older parts omit this band and rely on the case size or a separate marking.
Can I use this for surface-mount parts?
No. Surface-mount capacitors use a three-character numeric code instead. The colour code is exclusively a through-hole convention.
What does picofarad mean again?
A picofarad is 10⁻¹² farad. 1000 pF equals 1 nF, and 1000 nF equals 1 µF. The multiplier band tells you which power of ten to apply to the first two digits.