We focus on two approaches that have been proposed in recent years for the explanation of the so-called Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) paradox, i.e., the persistence of energy localization in the “low-$q$” Fourier modes of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam nonlinear lattices, preventing equipartition among all modes at low energies. In the first approach, a low-frequency fraction of the spectrum is initially excited leading to the formation of “natural packets” exhibiting exponential stability, while in the second, emphasis is placed on the existence of “$q$ breathers,” i.e., periodic continuations of the linear modes of the lattice, which are exponentially localized in Fourier space. Following ideas of the latter, we introduce in this paper the concept of “$q$-tori” representing exponentially localized solutions on low-dimensional tori and use their stability properties to reconcile these two approaches and provide a more complete explanation of the FPU paradox. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.81.016210 © 2010 The American Physical Society