diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@
 )
 
 install(FILES
+  qrc.cmake
   "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/KF5PackageConfig.cmake"
   "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/KF5PackageConfigVersion.cmake"
   "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/KF5PackageMacros.cmake"
diff --git a/KF5PackageMacros.cmake b/KF5PackageMacros.cmake
--- a/KF5PackageMacros.cmake
+++ b/KF5PackageMacros.cmake
@@ -21,28 +21,33 @@
 # kpackage_install_package(declarativetoolbox org.kde.toolbox) # installs a generic package
 #
 
+set(kpackagedir ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR})
 function(kpackage_install_package dir component)
+   message(AUTHOR_WARNING "Deprecated: use kpackage_install_bundle_package")
    set(root ${ARGV2})
    set(install_dir ${ARGV3})
    if(NOT root)
       set(root packages)
    endif()
    if(NOT install_dir)
       set(install_dir ${KPACKAGE_RELATIVE_DATA_INSTALL_DIR})
    endif()
+
    install(DIRECTORY ${dir}/ DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/${install_dir}/${root}/${component}
-           PATTERN .svn EXCLUDE
-           PATTERN *.qmlc EXCLUDE
-           PATTERN CMakeLists.txt EXCLUDE
-           PATTERN Messages.sh EXCLUDE
-           PATTERN dummydata EXCLUDE)
+            PATTERN .svn EXCLUDE
+            PATTERN *.qmlc EXCLUDE
+            PATTERN CMakeLists.txt EXCLUDE
+            PATTERN Messages.sh EXCLUDE
+            PATTERN dummydata EXCLUDE)
 
+   set(metadatajson)
    if(NOT EXISTS ${component}-${root}-metadata.json AND EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir}/metadata.desktop)
         set(GENERATED_METADATA "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${component}-${root}-metadata.json")
         add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${GENERATED_METADATA}
                            COMMAND KF5::desktoptojson -i ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir}/metadata.desktop -o ${GENERATED_METADATA})
         add_custom_target(${component}-${root}-metadata-json ALL DEPENDS ${GENERATED_METADATA})
         install(FILES ${GENERATED_METADATA} DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/${install_dir}/${root}/${component} RENAME metadata.json)
+        set(metadatajson ${GENERATED_METADATA})
    endif()
 
 
@@ -77,7 +82,73 @@
         set_directory_properties(PROPERTIES kpackageindex "${regenerateindex}")
         file(WRITE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/regenerateindex.sh ${regenerateindex})
    endif()
+
 endfunction()
 
+#use this version instead: it compresses the contents directory
+#into a binary rcc file
+function(kpackage_install_bundled_package dir component)
+    set(root ${ARGV2})
+    set(install_dir ${ARGV3})
+    if(NOT root)
+        set(root packages)
+    endif()
+    if(NOT install_dir)
+        set(install_dir ${KPACKAGE_RELATIVE_DATA_INSTALL_DIR})
+    endif()
+
+    set(metadatajson)
+    if(NOT EXISTS ${component}-${root}-metadata.json AND EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir}/metadata.desktop)
+            set(GENERATED_METADATA "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${component}-${root}-metadata.json")
+            add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${GENERATED_METADATA}
+                            COMMAND KF5::desktoptojson -i ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir}/metadata.desktop -o ${GENERATED_METADATA})
+            add_custom_target(${component}-${root}-metadata-json ALL DEPENDS ${GENERATED_METADATA})
+            install(FILES ${GENERATED_METADATA} DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/${install_dir}/${root}/${component} RENAME metadata.json)
+            set(metadatajson ${GENERATED_METADATA})
+    endif()
 
 
+    get_target_property(kpackagetool_cmd KF5::kpackagetool5 LOCATION)
+    if (${component} MATCHES "^.+\\..+\\.") #we make sure there's at least 2 dots
+            set(APPDATAFILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${component}.appdata.xml")
+
+            execute_process(
+                COMMAND ${kpackagetool_cmd} --appstream-metainfo ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir} --appstream-metainfo-output ${APPDATAFILE}
+                ERROR_VARIABLE appstreamerror
+                RESULT_VARIABLE result)
+            if (NOT result EQUAL 0)
+                message(WARNING "couldn't generate metainfo for ${component}: ${appstreamerror}")
+            else()
+                if(appstreamerror)
+                    message(WARNING "warnings during generation of metainfo for ${component}: ${appstreamerror}")
+                endif()
+
+                # OPTIONAL because desktop files can be NoDisplay so they render no XML.
+                install(FILES ${APPDATAFILE} DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_METAINFODIR} OPTIONAL)
+            endif()
+    else()
+            message(WARNING "KPackage components should be specified in reverse domain notation. Appstream information won't be generated for ${component}.")
+    endif()
+
+    set(newentry "${kpackagetool_cmd} --generate-index -g -p ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${KDE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/${install_dir}/${root}\n")
+    get_directory_property(currentindex kpackageindex)
+    string(FIND "${currentindex}" "${newentry}" alreadyin)
+    if (alreadyin LESS 0)
+            set(regenerateindex "${currentindex}${newentry}")
+
+            set_directory_properties(PROPERTIES kpackageindex "${regenerateindex}")
+            file(WRITE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/regenerateindex.sh ${regenerateindex})
+    endif()
+
+    set(kpkgqrc "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${component}.qrc")
+    set(kpkgrcc "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${component}.rcc")
+    add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${kpkgqrc} ${kpkgrcc}
+                        DEPENDS ${metadatajson}
+                        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir}
+                        COMMAND cmake "-Dmetadatajson=${metadatajson}" -Droot=${root} -Dinstall_dir=${install_dir} -DBINARYDIR=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR} -DDIRECTORY="${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${dir}" -DOUTPUTFILE=${kpkgqrc} -DCOMPONENT=${component} -P ${kpackagedir}/qrc.cmake
+                        COMMAND Qt5::rcc ${kpkgqrc} --binary -compress 5 -threshold 0 -o ${kpkgrcc}
+    )
+    add_custom_target(${component}-${root}-qrc ALL DEPENDS ${kpkgqrc})
+    install(FILES ${kpkgrcc} DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/${install_dir}/${root}/${component}/ RENAME contents.rcc)
+
+endfunction()
diff --git a/qrc.cmake b/qrc.cmake
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qrc.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+set(OUTPUT "<!DOCTYPE RCC><RCC version='1.0'>\n
+<qresource prefix='/${install_dir}/${root}/${COMPONENT}/'>
+")
+
+file(GLOB_RECURSE files LIST_DIRECTORIES FALSE RELATIVE ${DIRECTORY} ${DIRECTORY}/*)
+foreach(v IN LISTS files)
+    set(OUTPUT "${OUTPUT}   <file alias='${v}'>${DIRECTORY}/${v}</file>\n")
+endforeach()
+
+if (metadatajson)
+    set(OUTPUT "${OUTPUT}   <file alias='metadata.json'>${metadatajson}</file>\n")
+endif()
+
+set(OUTPUT "${OUTPUT}</qresource>
+</RCC>
+")
+file(WRITE "${OUTPUTFILE}" "${OUTPUT}")
diff --git a/src/kpackage/package.h b/src/kpackage/package.h
--- a/src/kpackage/package.h
+++ b/src/kpackage/package.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <QtCore/QStringList>
 #include <QtCore/QMetaType>
 #include <QCryptographicHash>
+#include <QUrl>
 
 #include <kpluginmetadata.h>
 
diff --git a/src/kpackage/package.cpp b/src/kpackage/package.cpp
--- a/src/kpackage/package.cpp
+++ b/src/kpackage/package.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "package.h"
 
 #include <qtemporarydir.h>
+#include <QResource>
 
 #include <karchive.h>
 #include <QDebug>
@@ -213,6 +214,7 @@
     //qDebug() << "metadata: " << d->path << filePath("metadata");
     if (!d->metadata && !d->path.isEmpty()) {
         const QString metadataPath = filePath("metadata");
+
         if (!metadataPath.isEmpty()) {
             d->createPackageMetadata(metadataPath);
         } else {
@@ -401,7 +403,13 @@
 
 QUrl Package::fileUrl(const QByteArray &fileType, const QString &filename) const
 {
-    return QUrl::fromLocalFile(filePath(fileType, filename));
+    QString path = filePath(fileType, filename);
+    //consytruct a qrc:/ url or a file:/ url, the only two protocols supported
+    if (path.startsWith(QStringLiteral(":"))) {
+        return QUrl(QStringLiteral("qrc") + path);
+    } else {
+        return QUrl::fromLocalFile(path);
+    }
 }
 
 QStringList Package::entryList(const QByteArray &key) const
@@ -504,6 +512,7 @@
         }
 
         if (QDir::isRelativePath(p)) {
+            //FIXME: can searching of the qrc be better?
             paths << QStandardPaths::locateAll(QStandardPaths::GenericDataLocation, p, QStandardPaths::LocateDirectory);
         } else {
             const QDir dir(p);
@@ -532,7 +541,15 @@
     foreach (const QString &p, paths) {
         d->checkedValid = false;
         QDir dir(p);
+
         Q_ASSERT(QFile::exists(dir.canonicalPath()));
+
+        //if it has a contents.rcc, give priority to it
+        if (dir.exists(QStringLiteral("contents.rcc"))) {
+            QResource::registerResource(dir.absoluteFilePath(QStringLiteral("contents.rcc")));
+            dir = QDir(QStringLiteral(":")+defaultPackageRoot()+path);
+        }
+
         d->path = dir.canonicalPath();
          // canonicalPath() does not include a trailing slash (unless it is the root dir)
         if (!d->path.endsWith(QLatin1Char('/'))) {