Let $f: M\rightarrow M$ be a $C^{1+\alpha }$ diffeomorphism on an $m_0$-dimensional compact smooth Riemannian manifold M and $\mu $ a hyperbolic ergodic f-invariant probability measure. This paper obtains an upper bound for the stable (unstable) pointwise dimension of $\mu $, which is given by the unique solution of an equation involving the sub-additive measure-theoretic pressure. If $\mu $ is a Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen (SRB) measure, then the Kaplan–Yorke conjecture is true under some additional conditions and the Lyapunov dimension of $\mu $ can be approximated gradually by the Hausdorff dimension of a sequence of hyperbolic sets $\{\Lambda _n\}_{n\geq 1}$. The limit behaviour of the Carathéodory singular dimension of $\Lambda _n$ on the unstable manifold with respect to the super-additive singular valued potential is also studied.

For a non-conformal repeller $\Lambda $ of a $C^{1+\alpha }$ map f preserving an ergodic measure $\mu $ of positive entropy, this paper shows that the Lyapunov dimension of $\mu $ can be approximated gradually by the Carathéodory singular dimension of a sequence of horseshoes. For a $C^{1+\alpha }$ diffeomorphism f preserving a hyperbolic ergodic measure $\mu $ of positive entropy, if $(f, \mu )$ has only two Lyapunov exponents $\unicode{x3bb} _u(\mu )>0>\unicode{x3bb} _s(\mu )$, then the Hausdorff or lower box or upper box dimension of $\mu $ can be approximated by the corresponding dimension of the horseshoes $\{\Lambda _n\}$. The same statement holds true if f is a $C^1$ diffeomorphism with a dominated Oseledet’s splitting with respect to $\mu $.