The Olympic and Paralympic track star is behind bars in the capital, Pretoria, after being convicted in October after a seven-month trial.
The release of Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, had been largely expected under South African sentencing guidelines that say non-dangerous prisoners should spend only one-sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars.
A prison service statement said Pistorius would spend the remainder of his time under "correctional supervision", a form of house arrest.
Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, died on Valentine's Day in 2013 when Pistorius shot her through a locked toilet door at his luxury Pretoria home.
Prosecutors had pushed for a murder conviction, but the athlete maintained he fired in the mistaken belief an intruder was hiding behind the door, a defence that struck home with many in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime.
The state won its bid to appeal the culpable homicide conviction and will seek a murder conviction when the case is heard in November.
Pistorius could face a prison sentence of at least 15 years if convicted of murder.