Phar

Phar is a the PHP Archive. It groups multiple files in a single one, and allows the direct execution or the inclusion of the code directly.

ext/phar is also a PHP extension, used to create and read the PHAR archives.

Phar archives may be zipped.

<?php
 $phar = new Phar('myphar.phar');
 $pgz = $phar->convertToExecutable(Phar::TAR, Phar::GZ); // makes myphar.phar.tar.gz
 ?>

Documentation