Electrical Tape Colors: What Do They Mean?

If you closely observe an electrician's tool backpack or the electrician's tool belt, you'll mainly find two things in it. First, there are some good-quality hand tools as well as power tools from brands like Bauer. Secondly, there are colorful rolls of tape. 

These tapes are known as electrical tape or phase tape, and they're different from the tape you use in your day-to-day life. Unlike transparent tape, which is made of biaxially oriented polypropylene film), electrical tape is made of vinyl or polyvinyl chloride. Along with the material, the use of different colors is what makes electrical tape different from regular tape.

Manufacturers don't produce electrical tape in different colors because of aesthetics. Instead, there's a very important reason for it. Different colors of electrical tape represent the different voltage levels and phases of the wire on which it's applied. Because of the use of multiple colors, an electrician can easily identify the wire's voltage level and ensure not connecting to the wrong wire.

While electrical tapes can be of various colors, you'll mainly find electricians using only these colors: red, black, blue, brown, orange, yellow, violet, green, white, and gray. These have different meanings in the U.S. than internationally. For instance, red electrical tape in the U.S. is used on a wire carrying phase B, low-voltage current. But internationally, it represents sheath 415V three-phase.

Black electrical tape is probably what electricians use most, and its main purpose is to insulate wires. The next is blue electrical tape, used in low-voltage, phase C connections in the U.S. and low-voltage, neutral, sheath, 230 V internationally. Brown tape represents a high-voltage, phase A connection in the U.S. But internationally, it's used on a low-voltage, phase A connection.

If you see orange electrical tape in the U.S., the connection is carrying high voltage, phase B current. Outside the U.S., it indicates the wiring sheath color. Yellow tape is applied on high-voltage, phase C connections in the U.S., but internationally, it represents sheath 110 V wiring. Violet and white tapes are only used in the U.S.; they represent high-voltage, phase B and low-voltage, neutral connection, respectively.

Green electrical tape represents earth grounding everywhere. Lastly, there's gray tape that U.S. electricians use on a high-voltage, neutral connection, but internationally, it represents a low-voltage, phase C connection.