The village is in the Donau-Wald region and is situated in the valley of the Kleinen Ohe river, which empties into the Danube in the Bavarian Forest.

In 1004, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II affirmed the Abbey's possession of Cella.

During the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1745), in June 1742, the enemy plundered the church and the inn.

Außernzell belonged to Bursar Straubing and to the district court of Hengersberg of the Elector Princes of Bavaria.

The new-Gothic Saint Leonard's Church was built in 1884 on the site of an older pilgrims' chapel.