This paper presents an optimal construction of $N$-bit-delay almost instantaneous fixed-to-variable-length (AIFV) codes, the general form of binary codes we can make when finite bits of decoding delay are allowed. The presented method enables us to optimize lossless codes among a broader class of codes compared to the conventional FV and AIFV codes. The paper first discusses the problem of code construction, which contains some essential partial problems, and defines three classes of optimality to clarify how far we can solve the problems. The properties of the optimal codes are analyzed theoretically, showing the sufficient conditions for achieving the optimum. Then, we propose an algorithm for constructing $N$-bit-delay AIFV codes for given stationary memory-less sources. The optimality of the constructed codes is discussed both theoretically and empirically. They showed shorter expected code lengths when $N\ge 3$ than the conventional AIFV-$m$ and extended Huffman codes. Moreover, in the random numbers simulation, they performed higher compression efficiency than the 32-bit-precision range codes under reasonable conditions.

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