diff -r e48bd90262b5 Doc/library/zipfile.rst
--- a/Doc/library/zipfile.rst	Sat Jan 16 23:44:16 2016 -0500
+++ b/Doc/library/zipfile.rst	Wed Jan 27 00:01:12 2016 +0000
@@ -465,6 +465,23 @@
 :meth:`.infolist` methods of :class:`ZipFile` objects.  Each object stores
 information about a single member of the ZIP archive.
 
+There is one classmethod:
+
+.. classmethod:: ZipInfo.from_file(filename, arcname=None)
+
+   Construct a :class:`ZipInfo` instance for a file on the filesystem, in
+   preparation for adding it to a zip file.
+
+   ``filename`` should be the path to a file or directory on the filesystem.
+
+   ``arcname`` is the name which it will have within the archive (by default,
+   this will be the same as filename, but without a drive letter and with
+   leading path separators removed).
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.6
+
+to make a :class:`ZipInfo` instance for a filesystem file
+
 Instances have the following attributes:
 
 
@@ -574,3 +591,10 @@
 .. attribute:: ZipInfo.file_size
 
    Size of the uncompressed file.
+
+.. attribute:: ZipInfo.isdir
+
+   ``True`` if the ZipInfo represents a directory, ``False`` otherwise.
+   Read-only property computed from :attr:`flag_bits`.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.6
diff -r e48bd90262b5 Lib/test/test_zipfile.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py	Sat Jan 16 23:44:16 2016 -0500
+++ b/Lib/test/test_zipfile.py	Wed Jan 27 00:01:12 2016 +0000
@@ -2071,5 +2071,21 @@
                                 unittest.TestCase):
     compression = zipfile.ZIP_LZMA
 
+class ZipInfoTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_from_file(self):
+        zi = zipfile.ZipInfo.from_file(__file__)
+        name = zi.filename.split('/')[-1]
+        self.assertEqual(name, 'test_zipfile.py')
+        assert not zi.isdir
+
+    def test_from_dir(self):
+        dirpath = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+        zi = zipfile.ZipInfo.from_file(dirpath, 'stdlib_tests')
+        self.assertEqual(zi.filename, 'stdlib_tests/')
+        assert zi.isdir
+        self.assertEqual(zi.compress_type, zipfile.ZIP_STORED)
+        self.assertEqual(zi.file_size, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(zi.compress_size, 0)
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff -r e48bd90262b5 Lib/zipfile.py
--- a/Lib/zipfile.py	Sat Jan 16 23:44:16 2016 -0500
+++ b/Lib/zipfile.py	Wed Jan 27 00:01:12 2016 +0000
@@ -469,6 +469,46 @@
 
             extra = extra[ln+4:]
 
+    @classmethod
+    def from_file(cls, filename, arcname=None):
+        """Construct an appropriate ZipInfo for a file on the filesystem.
+
+        filename should be the path to a file or directory on the filesystem.
+
+        arcname is the name which it will have within the archive (by default,
+        this will be the same as filename, but without a drive letter and with
+        leading path separators removed).
+        """
+        st = os.stat(filename)
+        isdir = stat.S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)
+        mtime = time.localtime(st.st_mtime)
+        date_time = mtime[0:6]
+        # Create ZipInfo instance to store file information
+        if arcname is None:
+            arcname = filename
+        arcname = os.path.normpath(os.path.splitdrive(arcname)[1])
+        while arcname[0] in (os.sep, os.altsep):
+            arcname = arcname[1:]
+        if isdir:
+            arcname += '/'
+        zinfo = cls(arcname, date_time)
+        zinfo.flag_bits = 0x00
+        zinfo.external_attr = (st.st_mode & 0xFFFF) << 16      # Unix attributes
+        if isdir:
+            zinfo.compress_type = ZIP_STORED
+            zinfo.file_size = 0
+            zinfo.compress_size = 0
+            zinfo.CRC = 0
+            zinfo.external_attr |= 0x10  # MS-DOS directory flag
+        else:
+            zinfo.file_size = st.st_size
+
+        return zinfo
+
+    @property
+    def isdir(self):
+        return bool(self.external_attr & 0x10)
+
 
 class _ZipDecrypter:
     """Class to handle decryption of files stored within a ZIP archive.
@@ -1430,29 +1470,12 @@
             raise RuntimeError(
                 "Attempt to write to ZIP archive that was already closed")
 
-        st = os.stat(filename)
-        isdir = stat.S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)
-        mtime = time.localtime(st.st_mtime)
-        date_time = mtime[0:6]
-        # Create ZipInfo instance to store file information
-        if arcname is None:
-            arcname = filename
-        arcname = os.path.normpath(os.path.splitdrive(arcname)[1])
-        while arcname[0] in (os.sep, os.altsep):
-            arcname = arcname[1:]
-        if isdir:
-            arcname += '/'
-        zinfo = ZipInfo(arcname, date_time)
-        zinfo.external_attr = (st[0] & 0xFFFF) << 16      # Unix attributes
-        if isdir:
-            zinfo.compress_type = ZIP_STORED
-        elif compress_type is None:
-            zinfo.compress_type = self.compression
-        else:
-            zinfo.compress_type = compress_type
+        zinfo = ZipInfo.from_file(filename, arcname)
 
-        zinfo.file_size = st.st_size
-        zinfo.flag_bits = 0x00
+        if not zinfo.isdir:
+            zinfo.compress_type = compress_type if (compress_type is not None) \
+                                    else self.compression
+
         with self._lock:
             if self._seekable:
                 self.fp.seek(self.start_dir)
@@ -1464,11 +1487,7 @@
             self._writecheck(zinfo)
             self._didModify = True
 
-            if isdir:
-                zinfo.file_size = 0
-                zinfo.compress_size = 0
-                zinfo.CRC = 0
-                zinfo.external_attr |= 0x10  # MS-DOS directory flag
+            if zinfo.isdir:
                 self.filelist.append(zinfo)
                 self.NameToInfo[zinfo.filename] = zinfo
                 self.fp.write(zinfo.FileHeader(False))