He was the first Bavarian ruler from the House of Wittelsbach, a dynasty which reigned until the abdication of King Ludwig III of Bavaria in the German Revolution of 1918.

A scion of the House of Wittelsbach, which had ruled as Counts of Scheyern in Upper Bavaria since the 11th century, Otto was a close ally of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa from the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

After the deposition of Frederick's rival Duke Henry the Lion from the Welf dynasty, Otto was granted the Duchy of Bavaria as a fief by the Emperor in 1180.

In the Dominium mundi conflict between emperor and pope culminating at the 1157 Reichstag of Besançon, fiery Otto could only be kept from smiting the papal legate Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli with his battleaxe by the personal intervention of Frederick.

[5] In 1183 Otto accompanied Emperor Frederick to sign the Peace of Constance with the Lombard League and died suddenly on the way back at Pfullendorf in Swabia.