Suppose we would like to approximate all local properties of a quantum many-body state to accuracy $delta$. In one dimension, we prove that an area law for the Renyi entanglement entropy $R_alpha$ with index $alpha<1$ implies a matrix product state representation with bond dimension $mathrm{poly}(1/delta)$. For (at most constant-fold degenerate) ground states of one-dimensional gapped Hamiltonians, it suffices that the bond dimension is almost linear in $1/delta$. In two dimensions, an area law for $R_alpha(alpha<1)$ implies a projected entangled pair state representation with bond dimension $e^{O(1/delta)}$. In the presence of logarithmic corrections to the area law, similar results are obtained in both one and two dimensions.