On the existence of open and bi-continuing codes

Given an irreducible sofic shift X, we show that an an irreducible SFT Y of lower entropy is a factor of X if and only if it is a factor of X by an open bi-continuing code. If these equivalent conditions hold and Y is mixing, then any code from a proper subshift of X to Y can be extended to an open bi-continuing code on X. These results are still valid when X is assumed to be only an almost specified shift, i.e., a subshift satisfying an irreducible version of the specification property.