diff -r 62d844d2bd07 Doc/library/zipfile.rst
--- a/Doc/library/zipfile.rst	Fri May 13 21:19:22 2016 +0300
+++ b/Doc/library/zipfile.rst	Sat May 14 23:44:54 2016 +0300
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ ZipFile Objects
    With ``mode='w'``, a writable file handle is returned, which supports the
    :meth:`~io.BufferedIOBase.write` method.  While a writable file handle is open,
    attempting to read or write other files in the ZIP file will raise a
-   :exc:`RuntimeError`.
+   :exc:`ValueError`.
 
    When writing a file, if the file size is not known in advance but may exceed
    2 GiB, pass ``force_zip64=True`` to ensure that the header format is
diff -r 62d844d2bd07 Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py	Fri May 13 21:19:22 2016 +0300
+++ b/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py	Sat May 14 23:44:54 2016 +0300
@@ -1450,15 +1450,15 @@ class OtherTests(unittest.TestCase):
             with zipf.open('foo', mode='w') as w2:
                 w2.write(msg1)
             with zipf.open('bar', mode='w') as w1:
-                with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     zipf.open('handle', mode='w')
-                with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     zipf.open('foo', mode='r')
-                with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     zipf.writestr('str', 'abcde')
-                with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     zipf.write(__file__, 'file')
-                with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
                     zipf.close()
                 w1.write(msg2)
             with zipf.open('baz', mode='w') as w2:
diff -r 62d844d2bd07 Lib/zipfile.py
--- a/Lib/zipfile.py	Fri May 13 21:19:22 2016 +0300
+++ b/Lib/zipfile.py	Sat May 14 23:44:54 2016 +0300
@@ -696,7 +696,7 @@ class _SharedFile:
     def read(self, n=-1):
         with self._lock:
             if self._writing():
-                raise RuntimeError("Can't read from the ZIP file while there "
+                raise ValueError("Can't read from the ZIP file while there "
                         "is an open writing handle on it. "
                         "Close the writing handle before trying to read.")
             self._file.seek(self._pos)
@@ -1388,7 +1388,7 @@ class ZipFile:
             return self._open_to_write(zinfo, force_zip64=force_zip64)
 
         if self._writing:
-            raise RuntimeError("Can't read from the ZIP file while there "
+            raise ValueError("Can't read from the ZIP file while there "
                     "is an open writing handle on it. "
                     "Close the writing handle before trying to read.")
 
@@ -1467,9 +1467,9 @@ class ZipFile:
                 "the ZIP file."
             )
         if self._writing:
-            raise RuntimeError("Can't write to the ZIP file while there is "
-                               "another write handle open on it. "
-                               "Close the first handle before opening another.")
+            raise ValueError("Can't write to the ZIP file while there is "
+                             "another write handle open on it. "
+                             "Close the first handle before opening another.")
 
         # Sizes and CRC are overwritten with correct data after processing the file
         if not hasattr(zinfo, 'file_size'):
@@ -1613,7 +1613,7 @@ class ZipFile:
             raise RuntimeError(
                 "Attempt to write to ZIP archive that was already closed")
         if self._writing:
-            raise RuntimeError(
+            raise ValueError(
                 "Can't write to ZIP archive while an open writing handle exists"
             )
 
@@ -1672,7 +1672,7 @@ class ZipFile:
             raise RuntimeError(
                 "Attempt to write to ZIP archive that was already closed")
         if self._writing:
-            raise RuntimeError(
+            raise ValueError(
                 "Can't write to ZIP archive while an open writing handle exists."
             )
 
@@ -1695,9 +1695,9 @@ class ZipFile:
             return
 
         if self._writing:
-            raise RuntimeError("Can't close the ZIP file while there is "
-                               "an open writing handle on it. "
-                               "Close the writing handle before closing the zip.")
+            raise ValueError("Can't close the ZIP file while there is "
+                             "an open writing handle on it. "
+                             "Close the writing handle before closing the zip.")
 
         try:
             if self.mode in ('w', 'x', 'a') and self._didModify: # write ending records