Telephone Wire Color Code (25 Pair)

A standard 25-pair telephone cable uses two groups of five colors to identify each pair. The five major colors are White, Red, Black, Yellow, Violet. The five minor colors are Blue, Orange, Green, Brown, Slate.

Each major color is combined with each minor color, giving 25 unique pair combinations.

Remembering the 25-Pair Color Code

The two groups are easier to remember as:

That gives us:

WRBYV  –  BOGBS

Within each pair, the Tip conductor uses the major color with the minor color as its marking. The Ring conductor reverses the colors.

Pair	Tip	Ring
1	White / Blue	Blue / White
2	White / Orange	Orange / White
3	White / Green	Green / White
4	White / Brown	Brown / White
5	White / Slate	Slate / White
6	Red / Blue	Blue / Red
7	Red / Orange	Orange / Red
8	Red / Green	Green / Red
9	Red / Brown	Brown / Red
10	Red / Slate	Slate / Red
11	Black / Blue	Blue / Black
12	Black / Orange	Orange / Black
13	Black / Green	Green / Black
14	Black / Brown	Brown / Black
15	Black / Slate	Slate / Black
16	Yellow / Blue	Blue / Yellow
17	Yellow / Orange	Orange / Yellow
18	Yellow / Green	Green / Yellow
19	Yellow / Brown	Brown / Yellow
20	Yellow / Slate	Slate / Yellow
21	Violet / Blue	Blue / Violet
22	Violet / Orange	Orange / Violet
23	Violet / Green	Green / Violet
24	Violet / Brown	Brown / Violet
25	Violet / Slate	Slate / Violet

The Connection to Fiber

If these colors look familiar, they should. The standard fiber optic color code starts with the same two five-color groups, but puts them in the opposite order:

BOGBS  –  WRBYV  –  RA

So the same two sentences can help with both systems. For 25-pair, remember When Routing Broadcasts, You Verify. Broadcast Ops Get Better Signals. For fiber, flip the first two groups and add Route Audio for Rose and Aqua.

See the Fiber Optic Color Code reference →