There is no consensus about alternatives. There are plenty of open container file formats that can contain multiple files, random-access them, and optionally co

There is no consensus about alternatives. There are plenty of open container file formats that can contain multiple files, random-access them, and optionally compress them -- with some, but not all, supporting filesystem attributes: CFS, 7z, PEA, ZPAQ, and as another commenter writes, DAR. A combined 'contain & compress' format is perhaps at odds with the unix philosophy of tools doing one thing well. Meanwhile, zip definitely exemplifies 'worse is better', in that despite the format's quirks and darker corners, it's good enough for most casual uses, and network effects and backwards compatibility help it win out.