Yes since the dawn of viruses. And depending on the file and lack of any protection on the host system – “auto-execute” and infect the system. Not really on auto – the OS reads certain files looking for “tags”. This function is easily hijacked, so just browsing the folder with an infected file can be enough.
As per @ratboy – what activates the virus is what is important. And that’s the OS – or a badly designed one (in terms of security: Windows).