The work aims to study the sorting method of chip resistors package based on machine vision to ensure packaging efficiency of chip resistors and reduce labor cost. A relative direction recognition method for the chip resistors was designed based on template matching. The overall framework of detection system was briefly introduced. The recognition method was mainly divided into three steps: template was intercepted and matched; matching degree and pixel coordinate information of the matching region were recorded; the relative direction was got based on the matching degree and coordinate information. The recognition rate under different light sources was verified herein. When the intensity of light source was 18 V, the recognition rate was the highest (99.9%) and the processing time was about 130 ms. The sorting method of chip resistors package based on machine vision can meet the requirements of industrial production for accuracy and real-time performance.