Fiber color code

nounStandard termFiber Optics

The fixed sequence of twelve colors that identifies each fiber and buffer tube in a cable.

The industry sequence used to number fibers inside a tube and tubes inside a cable: blue, orange, green, brown, slate, white, red, black, yellow, violet, rose and aqua. Fibers 13 to 24 repeat the colors with a stripe or dash. Everyone uses the same order, so in a cable with 12-fiber tubes, fiber 30 is the sixth fiber in the third tube: white in green.

Heard on the job

Your customer is tube three, fibers seven and eight, so that's red and black in the green tube.

Insider tip

Rookies memorize the first six with the mnemonic Blue Orange Green Brown Slate White, then learn Red Black Yellow Violet Rose Aqua the hard way.

Also heard as

  • TIA-598 color code