Is it possible to read and run files directly from a zip file?

Is it possible to create a zip file and use it like a regular directory structure? I would like to be able to store all my files directly to the zip file and read my files directly from it as well.

Or is there some alternative? Basically I need to have a bunch of files together in one central location. But I can't put them all in a regular directory. I need them to be all in one file.

You could certainly use a ZIP file as a read-only directory with limited functionality. It isn't possible to update an existing ZIP file, and if you had an executable program in the ZIP file, you would have to copy it out to a real directory before you could run it. Likewise you couldn't treat anything else in it as a file.

But apart from that, a ZIP file is a good way to keep a bunch of files together in one place.