Its chemical formula can be represented as MnIIMnIII2O4, or more simply noted as MnO·Mn2O3, or Mn3O4, as commonly done for magnetite (Fe3O4), the corresponding iron oxide.

Hausmannite is a brown to black metallic mineral with Mohs hardness of 5.5 and a specific gravity of 4.8.

[3] Locations include Batesville, Arkansas, US; Ilfeld, Germany; Langban, Sweden; and the Ural Mountains, Russia.

[2] High quality samples have been found in South Africa and Namibia where it is associated with other manganese oxides, pyrolusite and psilomelane and the iron-manganese mineral bixbyite.

Wilhelm Haidinger (1827) named it in honour of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782–1859), Professor of Mineralogy, University of Göttingen, Germany.