Traditional zoom system widely use mechanically compensated zoom structures， which suffer from excessive total track length and bulky structures. These limitations make it difficult for them to meet the strict constraints on volume and weight imposed by miniaturized devices. To address the aforementioned issues， this study discusses the principle of stable imaging in multiple moving groups zoom systems and proposes a compact zoom optical system model based on multiple moving groups sharing travel path. Taking a five-group zoom system as a design case， the complete design process from the formulation of design specifications to Gaussian structure analysis and then to optimization solutions is elaborated in detail. The effectiveness of the design results is verified through performance evaluation. The design results show that the system employs three glass lenses and seven plastic lenses， achieving a 3× continuous zoom from 23 mm to 69 mm with a total track length of 69 mm. The system has an F-number range of 2.4~4.5， an image height of 8.49 mm， and a working spectrum covering 435~650 nm， and the system mass is controlled below 30 g， while maintaining excellent imaging quality across the entire field of view and zoom range. The zoom curves exhibit smooth transitions without inflection points. The proposed compact zoom optical system model based on multiple moving groups sharing travel path effectively expands the effective motion range of individual moving groups under limited mechanical travel. While reducing the axial length of the zoom system， it ensures imaging quality stability during continuous zooming， providing an effective approach to achieve the goals of compactness design in zoom optical systems. Additionally， by adopting a glass-plastic hybrid configuration for the lens material， the lightweight target of the system is achieved.