A Brief Introduction to USB Color Code (USB Wire & Port)

If you have observed carefully, you should know that the wires inside the USB cable are designed in different colors and the colors of USB ports/connectors are also different. Do you know what these colors indicate? Why are there different USB color code?

Well, everything you need to know about the USB color code for USB wires and ports is displayed in the following contents. Just keep reading to get further information.

Part 1. USB Wire Color Code

Commonly, a USB cable has four wires insides. Two wires are used for power and another two for differential serial data signals (data transfer). But USB 3.0 uses ten wires in total, adding two additional differential pairs (each contains three wires). Thus, USB 3.0 offers data transfers at SuperSpeed which much faster than USB 2.0. See more about USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

After peeling the outer shield of a USB cable, you may see the exposed wires with different colors. And these colors indicate the different purpose of USB wires. Commonly, here are 4 standard USB wire colors: red, black, white, and green.

The meanings of these USB wire color code are:

• Red: The wire in red is used to pass positively-charged electric power. It has 5V direct current electricity.
• Black: The wire in black is the ground wire.
• White: The wire in white is used for positive data (D+).
• Green: The wire in green is used for negative data (D-).

Sometimes, you might find another set of colors in some USB wires: orange, white, green, blue. In this case, things get a little different:

• The orange wire works like the red wire.
• The white one works as the ground wire.
• The green wire transfers D+.
• The blue wire transfers D-.

After learning about the USB wire color code, you can skin the USB wire and fix it by yourself when the USB cable runs into certain problems, instead of replacing with a new one.

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Part 2. USB Port Color Code

Similarly, USB ports and connectors are often color-coded to distinguish their different functions and USB versions. According to the USB color code for USB port and connectors, you can determine what kind of USB connection your device has and figure out the type of a specific USB connector.

Here are some commonly used USB port color code:

• White: This color is usually found on USB 1.x of type-A or type-B and some white connectors are also compatible with USB 2.x.
• Black: Typically, this color is used for USB 2.x which is labeled “Hi-Speed”.
• Blue: This a specification of USB released in 2000. It defines a new SuperSpeed mode and is used for USB 3.x of type-A or type-B.
• Teal blue: This color defines the SuperSpeed+ mode and the USB connector with this color provides much faster data transfer speed. It is also used for type-A or type-B USB.
• Green: This color is commonly used in Qualcomm Quick Charge and certain type-A or type-B USB.
• Purple: This color is only used in plugs of type-A or USB-C, and it is adopted in Huawei SuperCharge.
• Yellow or Red: These colors are used in ports only. This kind of ports are usually used in high-current or sleep-and-charge mode.
• Orange: It also can be found in ports only. The Orange ports are mostly used on industrial hardware for high-retention connector.

What’s the color of the connectors or ports on your device? Hopefully, the brief introduction to USB color code can help you know your USB device more.

Related article: If Your USB Port Not Working, These Solutions Are Available